McLaren Formula 1 Team Principal Andrea Stella has made a bold claim over his team’s driver lineup while praising current championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Mercedes and Antonelli have had the measure of McLaren in the opening four races of 2026, as the W17 has proven superior over the MCL40.
Antonelli has taken three of the four wins, however, McLaren bounced back in Miami, with Norris taking Sprint pole position and victory.
The young Italian’s performances have impressed Stella, who thought Antonelli’s more illustrious teammate would steal a march in the opening flyaway races.
“I think we should really pay credit to the quality of the driving, the consistency, the speed in both a single lap in the race and overall execution. We should pay credit to what Kimi is showing, he’s actually delivering on track,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“I would have said after testing that George [Russell] was in a stronger position, which was the case until Australia, but for some reason things seem to have turned around and once again I think this is thanks to the good work that Kimi must be doing with his engineers and with the people around him.
“There’s always a group of people around a driver and success comes because this synergy works and I think Kimi must be having all these conditions in place. Well done to Kimi, well done to Mercedes.”
McLaren confident in “strongest pair” of teammates
Despite the Mercedes dominance in the early part of 2026, Stella still believes his pairing of Norris and Oscar Piastri is still the benchmark on the grid.
“I think we have seen for McLaren, if I may say, that in Japan with a car that wasn’t competitive yet, Oscar was in condition to fight for the win again and score a podium,” the Italian said.
“Oscar confirming a podium finish here and Lando, one win in the sprint and in the fight for the victory here.
“When we look in particular at the Constructors’ championship, I think we are from a driver’s point of view probably the strongest pair. We want to capitalise on this strength that we have at McLaren, but we need to make the car a little bit faster.”]
Stella’s praise of Antonelli highlights McLaren’s awareness of the formidable nature of their opponent. That both cars are now consistently scoring could prove a problem for Mercedes, if one car fails to split the McLarens on-track.