Andrea Stella expects Singapore Grand Prix to reveal McLaren’s true pace

Andrea Stella believes the Singapore Grand Prix could offer a clearer picture of McLaren’s true pace after a weekend in which the team appeared to fall behind its rivals. The team principal does not, however, view the Bahrain Grand Prix as evidence of a crisis: in his view, Sepang’s extreme track characteristics and unusual tyre behaviour made the race an outlier.

At Sepang, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing showed strong pace, while McLaren and Lando Norris appeared less able to keep up with their rivals’ progress. Stella acknowledged that the scale of the upgrades brought by other teams caught McLaren off guard, but did not conclude that his team’s car was failing.

“We don’t see any anomaly in our data, but we have to acknowledge that some competitors may have developed their car in bigger steps than we did,” he said. He also pointed to Ferrari’s performance: “Ferrari were very, very strong here.” To make his point, Stella cited Lewis Hamilton, who, he said, had been out there with Lando Norris before recovering several places by passing cars. He concluded that Ferrari had “definitely one of the best cars” on track.

The McLaren boss urged caution when assessing the performances in Bahrain. “The conditions here in Bahrain are very special, so we need to understand how the cars are behaving,” he warned. It is also too early to say whether Singapore will suit McLaren better: Stella said he could not yet make that call, even though the team had expected the Bahrain layout to be a decent one for them.

“The uncertainty comes from the new competitive picture, but also from the fact that we need to understand our own upgrades a little better. Singapore will give us a clearer answer,” he said. The Singapore Grand Prix, at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, is therefore expected to give McLaren insight into the 2026 pecking order. Further upgrades are planned for the final stretch of the season, and the data will matter as Lando Norris tries to compete with Mercedes.