McLaren heads to Las Vegas wiser – but with a warning from Stella

McLaren team principal Andrae Stella says the Woking-based outfit has done its homework since its dismal showing in Las Vegas in 2024, dissected its failures, and “taken action” to ensure a stronger performance on the Strip next weekend.

But in a city where fortunes can flip in an instant, a cautious Stella makes clear that the lessons from last year come with caution.

Twelve months ago, McLaren’s papaya machines were left in the dust on the low-downforce street circuit, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri limping to sixth and seventh places, a whopping 43 and 51 seconds behind Mercedes’ race-winner George Russell.

The team’s contenders were also outclassed by Ferrari and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as they battled a trifecta of woes – tyre troubles, aerodynamic inefficiencies, and a poorly optimized car setup that left them helpless in the Saturday night desert chill.

“Vegas last year was one of the most difficult races,” Stella said in Brazil last time out, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“We had difficulties with the behaviour of the tyres in qualifying, because we were not fast, and behaviour of the tyres in the race because we had a lot of graining.

“We also had some aerodynamic issues when we tried to offload the rear wing, we saw that we were losing too much efficiency and we also had a bit of issues with the set-up of the car in a way trying to compensate for this graining and some of the understeer.”

In other words: everything that could snowball, did.

Actions Taken — but No Guarantees

Stella says the team didn’t just analyse the disaster; it responded decisively.

“The review from Vegas last year gave us a lot of information to try and find a way to improve,” he explained.

“I would say that from a tyre point of view, from an aerodynamic efficiency point of view and from a car set-up point of view, we know in which direction we should change compared to last year.”

But Las Vegas remains a track where McLaren’s 2025 strengths won’t naturally shine.

With few high-speed corners, the MCL39 can’t rely on the traits that propelled Norris to the championship lead. Cold temperatures will also negate some of McLaren’s cooling innovations, removing an advantage they enjoy at hotter venues.

Even the competition is difficult to predict: Mercedes’ form has been wildly variable, but their pace on the Strip last year suggests they’ll be a threat again, and Ferrari has made clear it expects to be firmly in the mix.

• Read also: Stella defends Piastri amid ‘quite anomalous’ run of conditions

And that leads to Stella’s key warning.

“Will it be enough to be competitive now? We will only see it in Vegas, but definitely we took actions in response to what we saw last year because, certainly the performance wasn't satisfactory enough.”

It’s a cautious message from a leader who believes his team has improved – but refuses to overpromise

Prepared, but Braced

McLaren heads to Vegas not confused but informed. They know why the tyres refused to switch on in the cold. They understand why shedding downforce robbed them of efficiency instead of unlocking straight-line gains. And they recognise how last year’s set-up choices sent them into a spiral of understeer and graining.

Most importantly, they have addressed those vulnerabilities.

Still, the tone from the McLaren boss is measured – almost deliberately so. It reflects both respect for the unpredictable nature of Las Vegas and an awareness that last year’s scars demand humility.

The papaya squad enters the weekend better armed, better prepared, and better aware of its limits. Whether that will be enough to turn Sin City from a nightmare into a statement – well, as Stella reminds everyone – only the Strip will tell.

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