Lewis Hamilton thought that McLaren had discovered an unexpected performance gain in Miami. Andrea Stella quickly calmed the speculation around the new upgrades of the British team.
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The Miami Grand Prix marked an important turning point in this start of the 2026 season. After five weeks of break since Suzuka, several teams arrived in Florida with major aerodynamic packages to reignite the battle at the front of the field.
McLaren was among the most anticipated teams. The Woking team brought several novelties to its MCL40 and the results were immediately visible on track. Lando Norris won the Sprint race before securing second place in the main Grand Prix behind Kimi Antonelli.
This rise in performance obviously did not go unnoticed in the paddock, especially on the side of Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, struggling during the weekend despite the eleven upgrades introduced by the Scuderia, had hinted that McLaren might have gained much more than they initially expected.
“I heard that McLaren brought an upgrade that was worth much more than what they had anticipated” the Brit explained after the race.
A statement that quickly prompted a reaction from Andrea Stella.
Andrea Stella denies Hamilton’s comments
The McLaren boss wanted to respond directly to the seven-time world champion’s comments. And according to him, there was no particular surprise regarding the performance of the new parts introduced in Miami.
“He was suggesting that we had gained more performance than expected with our upgrades” Stella said to the media.
The Italian executive then dismissed this theory with a very clear response.
“I would like to say yes… but the answer is no” he stated.
According to Stella, the data collected throughout the weekend matches exactly the simulations carried out beforehand by McLaren.
“Everything we measured is consistent with what our development tools predicted. We are overall perfectly aligned with our expectations.”
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A way for McLaren to emphasize the precision of its development work, while several teams still seem to be searching for the right technical direction with these new 2026 cars.
Ferrari still searching for the right answers
The comparison between McLaren and Ferrari becomes even more interesting as the Scuderia had actually brought an even larger package to Florida.
Hamilton himself had recalled that Ferrari introduced more novelties than McLaren during the weekend.
“We had eight or eleven new parts depending on the areas of the car, while McLaren had fewer” he explained.
But despite these efforts, Ferrari failed to fight for victory. Hamilton finished sixth after suffering damage on the first lap in a contact with Franco Colapinto, while Charles Leclerc also lost ground after a promising start to the race.
Andrea Stella also insisted that McLaren probably has not yet shown its full development potential.
“In quantity, we even brought fewer parts than Ferrari in Miami, and there will be several more in the upcoming races” he specified.
The technical duel between McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull now seems completely reignited. And approaching the Canadian Grand Prix, every upgrade could already become decisive in the fight for the world championship.
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