Stella delivers blunt verdict on Mercedes vs McLaren pace battle

Last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix saw McLaren resolutely in the mix, and even seemingly faster in terms of outright pace than championship leader Mercedes, yet team boss Andrea Stella was quick to temper the excitement with a dose of cold, hard data.

In Saturday’s sprint event, a revitalized Lando Norris was comprehensively out of reach of his rivals while the reigning world champion clocked in on Sunday just over three seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli, a deficit that many believed was caused by a strategy miscue in the McLaren camp.

The turnaround was remarkable considering the challenging start endured by McLaren at the start of F1’s 2026 campaign.

However, despite the MCL40’s new-found strength, Stella poured cold water on suggestions that McLaren has now leapfrogged Mercedes at the top of the grid.

“I think there's a few indications of a different nature, but all quantitative, that tell a picture that Mercedes is a faster car,” the Italian explained in Miami.

Stella pointed to hard data rather than emotion or headlines, highlighting sections of the Miami circuit where Mercedes continued to expose McLaren’s weaknesses – particularly through the faster corners where aerodynamic efficiency becomes critical.

Mercedes still stronger in high-speed sections

While McLaren’s upgrades delivered a visible step forward in traction, balance and overall drivability, Stella argued that the W17 remained superior when pushed through Miami’s rapid directional changes.

“I think qualifying [on Saturday], we saw that Mercedes don't have any problem with deployment, like they had in sprint qualifying and, on average, if we see the behaviour of the cars in the corners, they are faster than us,” he explained.

“The corners in which they are mainly faster than us are the high-speed corners. So in the section [Turns] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, they gain quite a bit on McLaren.”

That admission offers a revealing glimpse into how closely the leading teams are analysing one another as Formula 1’s competitive order tightens.

Even after McLaren’s breakthrough performance, Stella was openly dissecting the exact sectors where Mercedes still held the upper hand – an indication that the Woking-based squad knows there is more performance left to unlock.

And according to Stella, the evidence did not stop with qualifying pace.

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He also pointed to race-stint data involving Mercedes rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli, whose relentless speed reinforced McLaren’s belief that the Silver Arrows still possess the benchmark package overall.

“And then in the race, if we look at the end of the first stint, and then the end of the last stint, Antonelli, in the first, closes the gap, and in the last, opens the gap,” he added.

“So I think all these factors indicate that Mercedes is a faster car. When we were slower, our execution was perfect, like in the sprint qualifying, and their execution was a few tenths off their potential.”

Development war only just beginning

McLaren’s Miami package clearly worked. The team looked sharper, more confident, and significantly more competitive than it did only a few races ago. But inside the paddock, nobody believes the hierarchy is settled.

Mercedes is already preparing another major wave of updates for the Canadian Grand Prix, while McLaren is also expected to continue aggressively evolving the MCL40.

That means Miami is unlikely to have been the moment McLaren overtook Mercedes – it may simply have been the opening salvo in the sport’s predictable full-scale arms race.

And if Stella is right, the truly frightening part for McLaren’s rivals is this: Mercedes may still have untapped pace left in reserve.

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