Ferrari and Mercedes still a step ahead – McLaren boss Stella

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Ferrari and Mercedes have established a clear early-season advantage after the final 2026 Formula 1 pre-season test, warning that his own squad will start the campaign on the back foot at next week’s Australian Grand Prix.

Speaking after six days of running in Bahrain, Stella pointed to Charles Leclerc’s headline-grabbing lap on the ultimate afternoon – the Monegasque finishing eight-tenths clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris – and strong long-run data from both Ferrari and Mercedes as evidence that the two traditional powerhouses have stolen an early march.

“Ferrari and Mercedes are a step ahead,” Stella told Sky Sports F1. “Very difficult to say exactly where everyone is, but when you look at the race simulations and the relative performance, they appear to have found something extra.”

McLaren, by contrast, left the desert having completed every item on its test checklist yet still searching for outright pace. Stella conceded that while the gap to the very front is “not far”, it is real.

The Italian highlighted the difficulty of reading too much into single-lap times, noting that track evolution in the final hours of testing – when Norris delivered his most encouraging stint – can flatter a car’s true speed. Instead, he placed greater stock in the race-simulation data, citing a Thursday run that saw Oscar Piastri shadow Max Verstappen’s Red Bull over a long distance with near-identical pace.

“Often the race simulation is where you can more accurately see what the genuine performance of cars is,” Stella explained. “Depending on the time of day, though, the picture can change quite a lot.”

Red Bull, he believes, are “very similar” to McLaren in overall trim, setting up a four-way fight at the front that could swing from circuit to circuit. One key variable will be the new-for-2026 energy-management rules: cars harvest electrical energy under braking and deploy it when the driver returns to full throttle. Tracks with fewer heavy braking zones – such as Melbourne’s Albert Park – will punish inefficient systems more severely.

“Bahrain gives you enough braking to harvest almost everything without special techniques,” Stella noted. “Australia will be trickier; drivers will be busier modulating lift-and-coast to keep the battery in its sweet spot. That will influence who can attack and defend in the race.”

McLaren’s status as a Mercedes customer team adds another layer of complexity. While Stella praised the “really strong collaboration” with Mercedes HPP, he admitted that integration between power-unit and chassis departments is inherently tighter for a works outfit. “There’s still quite a lot to learn about engine control and exploitation,” he said, pointing to new driver-switchable modes that must deliver both lap-time and raceability.

With the season-opening Australian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 from 6-8 March, Stella expects the competitive order to remain fluid as teams discover which circuits expose their energy-system strengths or weaknesses. One thing is already clear in his mind: Ferrari and Mercedes arrive in Melbourne with the early edge, and McLaren has work to do to bridge the gap.