McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Ferrari and Mercedes are “a step ahead” following last week’s final 2026 Formula 1 pre-season test.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets by over eight tenths of a second from Lando Norris after an impressive final day and had a strong race simulation in the heat of the day.
Stella thinks McLaren is “not far” behind the top two teams despite ticking all of their test item boxes ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 6-8, live on Sky Sports F1.
Asked about the pecking order, he said: “Very difficult to say. There is a race simulation that I was, I think, was on Thursday [between] Oscar [Piastri] and [Max] Verstappen. It happened at a similar time of the day, and it was a similar pace.
“Often, the race simulation is actually where you can more accurately see what the genuine performance of cars is. The reason why I think we have to be careful is that depending on the time of the day, then the race simulation may be quite a lot faster.
“Like now [on the last day] Lando, he was performing pretty strongly in a race simulation, but at the same time, probably the end of day three was the fastest time the track has been across the six days. So, difficult [to say]. I think McLaren and Red Bull are probably very similar. Ferrari and Mercedes are a step ahead.”
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Hear from George Russell, Oscar Piastri and many more following the third and final day of the second testing in Bahrain
Stella: Australia will pose ‘more difficult’ deployment challenge
The top four teams appear to be close enough for the pecking order to likely change across different tracks and different conditions, depending on each car’s strengths.
Red Bull were strong in testing with their deployment efficiency, which means they could use more electrical energy for longer. This will be particularly valuable at tracks with less big braking zones as the 2026 cars harvest electrical energy when the driver is not on the throttle pedal.
Stella pointed out the Bahrain International Circuit features more braking zones compared to Albert Park in Australia, so the testing pecking order may already change at the first race.
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Watch the highlights of the third day of the second Bahrain pre-season Test
“I think in 2026 we will have to look at the characteristics of the circuits, including this feature related to how easy it is as a circuit for the power unit requirement,” he said.
“So Barcelona was actually relatively demanding in terms of balance between deployment and harvesting. In Bahrain, it was relatively easier because you spend enough time in braking that basically you do all the harvesting braking. You don’t need to do anything special in terms of lifting off, for instance, in order to add the time at which you harvest your power unit.
“Now we go to Australia. In Australia we go back to one circuit in which it will be a bit more difficult. So in Australia it will be a little bit more difficult. I think we will see the drivers will be busier in terms of their driving style to make sure that the power unit is exploited in terms of harvesting energy and deployment of energy in a way that is efficient. And when we say efficient, it means efficient for a long time.”
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Lando Norris says his McLaren team need to further improve their car if they’re to challenge for the world title once again this season
McLaren are a customer team to Mercedes, since they use their engine, which is naturally a slight disadvantage since Mercedes’ engine department will collaborate with the Mercedes chassis and aerodynamic department.
Stella says “there’s been really strong collaboration” with Mercedes’ engine team but it’s an area McLaren can make improvements to optimise how the power unit needs to be used.
“We are very grateful for the efforts that HPP have pulled off to make sure that we are making progress every single day,” said the Italian.
“But I do see that there’s still quite a lot to learn and definitely more work to do in terms of engine control, power unit control and power unit exploitation.”
He added: “One thing we needed to learn is also how to use the features available in the power unit and what kind of new features you need to have available under the driver’s control such that the power unit is not only competitive from a lap time point of view, but also from a raceability point of view, like when you have to compete with your rivals on track.”
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