Despite its huge progress in Miami, McLaren still believes that Mercedes currently has the best car on the grid. Andrea Stella even identified a specific sector where the German team maintains a clear advantage.
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The Miami weekend marked a real turning point for McLaren. Thanks to a significant package of upgrades introduced after the long spring break, the British team finally reached the level it had hoped for since the start of the season.
Pole position, sprint double and fight for victory in the main race: the MCL40 clearly changed dimension in Florida. Lando Norris fought until the end for the win while Oscar Piastri also made it onto the podium.
These performances contrast sharply with McLaren’s difficult start to the year, when it appeared only as the third force on the grid behind Mercedes and Ferrari.
Yet, despite this spectacular progress, Andrea Stella still refuses to consider his team as the absolute reference at the moment.
Mercedes still ahead according to Stella
The McLaren boss believes that Mercedes currently retains the overall advantage in pure performance. According to him, several indicators observed throughout the Miami weekend show that the W17 remains the fastest car on the grid.
“I think there are several indications, all quantitative, that show Mercedes still has a faster car” explained Stella.
The Italian notably relied on detailed analysis of qualifying data to support his observation. According to him, Mercedes showed a very clear advantage in certain fast sections of the Miami circuit.
A specific sector poses a problem for McLaren
Andrea Stella particularly pointed out the fast corners of the second sector, where Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes regularly managed to pull away from the McLarens.
“The corners where they are mainly faster than us are the high-speed curves, detailed the McLaren boss. In the sequence of corners 4 to 8, they gain a lot of time on McLaren.”
This weakness in the fast sections now seems to represent one of the last major weaknesses of the MCL40 despite the progress made thanks to the new upgrades.
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Stella also noted that Mercedes seemed to have completely solved its energy management problems seen during the sprint qualifying.
“In qualifying, we saw that Mercedes no longer had the deployment problems observed previously” he added.
Antonelli still impresses McLaren
The race pace analysis also reinforced McLaren’s concerns. Andrea Stella believes that Kimi Antonelli’s stints clearly demonstrate the superior potential of the W17 over the course of a Grand Prix.
The young Italian, winner for the third consecutive time this season, managed to maintain and then extend the gap against Lando Norris during several important phases of the race.
“At the end of the first stint, Antonelli was closing in on Norris, then at the end of the last stint, he extended the gap again” highlighted Stella.
For the Italian executive, this confirms that Mercedes still has a small performance margin despite the progress made by McLaren.
The battle will step up another notch in Canada
The situation could actually become even more intense at the next round in Montreal. Mercedes is preparing a much more substantial upgrade package for the Canadian Grand Prix, while McLaren also plans to introduce new parts.
In other words, the technical fight between the two teams is probably only just beginning.
Even though McLaren seems finally back in the fight for victories, Andrea Stella knows that the hardest part now remains to be done: successfully closing the gap that still exists against Mercedes, especially in the fast sectors where the W17 continues to impress the entire paddock.
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