New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nIt put him 23 points behind Norris just one round into the season. He lost the title to his teammate by just 13 points.<\/p>\n
Piastri has been expected to have a second crack at victory at Albert Park this year, with McLaren starting 2026 as the defending constructors champion, but a generational rules shake-up has disrupted the team\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n
Though the Woking squad appears to still be among the frontrunners, Stella doesn\u2019t expect the team to start at the front of the field this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the unknowns involved \u2014 in testing there are parameters that are not fully known, such as the amount of fuel on board or, particularly from this year, the way in which the available energy is used \u2014 I feel I can confirm \u2026 Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull are a step ahead of the competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin this leading group, we believe that Ferrari and Mercedes are a step ahead, although it is difficult to quantify how large the gap is. We will find out starting next week in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our part, we are happy with what we have seen in our car, but we are equally aware that some of our main competitors \u2014 it is not coincidence that all three are works teams \u2014 have done an excellent job.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: Barely a week out from the season-opening grand prix, what\u2019s the F1 state of play, and where do McLaren and Oscar Piastri sit in the order?<\/p>\n
McLaren is the only team among the frontrunners without their own engine, with Red Bull Racing becoming a works team for the first time in its history after opening Red Bull Powertrains this year.<\/p>\n
In 2026 McLaren will continue its long association with Mercedes, having used the German marque\u2019s motors to win the last two teams titles as well as last season\u2019s drivers championship.<\/p>\n
Works status has been theorised to be more important this year given the complexity of the power unit regulations, with overall performance inextricably linked to how efficiently energy can be harvested and discharged.<\/p>\n
Though the regulations require that engine suppliers and customers have access to identical hardware and software, there is a presumed advantage for works teams in building and understanding how the power unit operates that will pay dividends particularly in the early stage of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work hard to catch up and develop the car as quickly as possible,\u201d Stella said. \u201cOnce the cards are on the table, development will become the major challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo use a football metaphor, the first part of the season will see us playing a bit defensively, trying to exploit the counter-attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A storm in a teacup’ – Toto hits back | 01:18<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the significant obfuscation between the teams during pre-season testing, McLaren has chosen not to prepare a major upgrade for its car for Melbourne, preferring to keep its powder dry until it knows what it\u2019s up against in favour of refining the package it has.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will essentially be the same [car in Australia],\u201d Stella said. \u201cWe will have introduced some minor aerodynamic updates and will continue to work on important aspects, such as the weight of the car \u2014 this is a rather significant factor not only in absolute terms but also because going below the minimum weight will allow us to work on weight distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother key factor is the exploitation of the power unit, as I mentioned earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the sober assessment of McLaren\u2019s immediate future, Stella said both Piastri and Norris were feeling \u201cpositive\u201d about the start of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Lando and Oscar were able to drive continuously at Sakhir and worked very hard on all of the areas that will allow them to improve the overall performance of the car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not forget, a driver\u2019s talent and ability to make the most of all the tools at their disposal has perhaps never been so important \u2014 not only in qualifying but in all aspects of race management, from the start onwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of the integration between driver, engineers and the car will be increasingly important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren is unlikely to have the pace to power Oscar Piastri to a drought-breaking home podium at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[13273,1724,64,63,689,936,254589,21779,254585,254591,817,254593,813,816,254594,2105,841,254590,254587,254588,34866,52609,1737,129508,647,677,99980,2119,18923,223968,225387,43335,253585,85,254592,13773,254586,660,156365,12000,231445,254584],"class_list":{"0":"post-507215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-andrea-stella","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-bahrain","14":"tag-defending-constructors-champion","15":"tag-drivers-championship","16":"tag-drought-breaking-home-podium","17":"tag-engine-suppliers","18":"tag-f1","19":"tag-football-metaphor","20":"tag-formula-1","21":"tag-formula1","22":"tag-generational-rules-shake-up","23":"tag-getty-images-inc","24":"tag-grand-prix","25":"tag-home-drought-breaker-hit","26":"tag-home-podium","27":"tag-horror-crashmotorsport","28":"tag-joe-portlock","29":"tag-key-factor","30":"tag-lando-norris","31":"tag-luke-browning","32":"tag-melbourne","33":"tag-oceania","34":"tag-pecking-order","35":"tag-pit-talk","36":"tag-power-unit","37":"tag-power-unit-regulations","38":"tag-preseason-testing","39":"tag-race-management","40":"tag-season-opening-grand-prix","41":"tag-sports","42":"tag-sudden-rain-shower","43":"tag-team-principal","44":"tag-teams-titles","45":"tag-victoria","46":"tag-weight-distribution","47":"tag-western-asia","48":"tag-works-status","49":"tag-works-teams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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