Stella reveals his ‘priority number one’ ahead of crucial F1 talks

Andrea Stella has fired a warning shot at Formula 1’s rule-makers, insisting qualifying must become the sport’s “priority number one” issue – second only to safety – when key stakeholders meet next week to address the faltering 2026 regulations.

While the new rules have successfully boosted overtaking and shaken up the racing to a certain extent, this has come at a heavy cost. The current battery-heavy power units have turned qualifying – traditionally a heart-in-mouth exercise – into a glorified run in energy accounting.

Stella has made it crystal clear where the focus must lie when teams, the FIA and Formula 1’s chiefs sit down for crunch talks during the April break.

The death of the high-speed hero

The grit of the problem was laid bare at Suzuka, a circuit that usually separates the greats from the merely good. Under the 2026 mandate, corners that once required iron nerves now require a calculator.

Drivers are no longer fighting the steering rack; they are fighting the state-of-charge meter.

“I think as an F1 community, we have identified the priority number one, apart from safety issues, that we at McLaren in particular have definitely raised the attention [of], like starts or the risks with the lift and coast of the car ahead for the following car and so on,” Stella explained, highlighting the dual threat of technical boredom and physical danger.

The McLaren boss noted that the iconic Degner One and Spoon Curve – bends that once defined a driver's season – have been neutered by the need to save electrons.

“You mentioned Degner One is now a corner in which you almost lift and roll through the corner, and then you have to avoid going on power between Degner One and Two, because that way of using your battery would not be efficient," Stella lamented.

"Instead, that corner has always been one that the drivers will mention in a season, like, ‘what are the most challenging corners?’ That’s one of those.

“And at the moment, that corner, you think about the battery as you go through the corner. You don’t think about gaining half a tenth just by committing to it.”

Restoring the F1 DNA

For Stella, the mission for next week's meeting is clear: F1 must stop rewarding the most efficient lift-and-coast and start rewarding the fastest driver.

The fear is that if qualifying becomes a game of "lift and roll," the sport loses the very theater that fans pay to see.

“From a performance and from a driving point of view, the main opportunity that was identified was qualifying, and driving in qualifying to the limit of grip, and to make sure that the drivers that are best at exploiting the grip, and at times, even take the risks to do so, they are rewarded,” he insisted.

According to Stella, the current shortage of energy has exposed the cracks in the 2026 foundation, specifically at high-load tracks like Japan.

“So, I think the challenges of Suzuka kind of suffer, and I can understand that the drivers push the F1 community to fix this, such that qualifying retains the excitement, the challenge, the DNA of being the moment in which the best driver gets rewarded, especially in the places where they can make the difference with the bravery and the ability,” he concluded.

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Whether the FIA can find a way to reprogram the electric limits before the Miami Grand Prix remains to be seen.

“I think this is not obvious as to how to do that, but there are some possibilities,” Stella noted.

“There are some further meetings that will happen between the teams, the FIA and F1 between now and Miami, so let’s see what progress we can do there, but I think it’s something that we should implement.”

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