Why McLaren’s once-untouchable edge has faded — and why Stella isn’t worried
McLaren walked out of Singapore with the big prize wrapped up — a second straight Constructors’ Championship sealed with Lando Norris on the podium and Oscar Piastri right behind. Job done. Yet the atmosphere in orange wasn’t chest-thumping. It was analytical. Andrea Stella knows the field has closed in, and he’s not pretending otherwise.
Not so long ago, McLaren were rattling off 1-2s and building a points cushion that’s now mathematically unassailable. But since the summer, the gap’s been trimmed to a sliver. Red Bull have nicked back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku. Max Verstappen chased home second in Zandvoort and Singapore. And at Marina Bay, George Russell put Mercedes on pole and then on the top step, with Norris snapping at Verstappen for P2 in the final laps but coming up short.
The obvious question: has McLaren taken a step back, or has everyone else taken a step forward? Stella, speaking in Singapore, didn’t hide the truth.
“I think it’s a combination of both,” he said. “We have stopped the development of the car now for quite some time, because we’ve been focusing entirely on 2026.”
That’s the crux. With revolutionary regulations arriving, McLaren has effectively frozen major development on the MCL39 — Stella called out only “little parts” for Monza — while rivals kept bringing kit. Red Bull rolled out a new floor at Monza and a new front wing in Singapore. Mercedes have found a window too. If the McLaren looked a touch more mortal under the lights, there’s a technical story behind it.
Stella pointed to two patterns that exposed McLaren’s current limitations: low-downforce trim, as seen at Monza and Baku, and heavy-braking zones with bumps and kerbs — very Singapore. Put those together with a development pause and you’ve got the late-season squeeze.
“There are a few factors compounding,” he said. “We haven’t developed the car for a long time, and some track characteristics.” He even warned Austin could still be tricky — “tight in many braking areas” — before circling Brazil, Qatar and Abu Dhabi as friendlier territory.
None of that changes the scoreboard. McLaren remain the benchmark over the full season, and the constructors’ crown was clinched early for a reason. But it does explain why weekends that used to look like orange processions have become three-team chess matches again.
There’s also a philosophical divide emerging in the paddock. Red Bull, under Laurent Mekies, is still pushing upgrades into the final third of the season — a choice he framed as essential validation work for the factory rather than a 2025 points grab.
“It’s important that we get to the bottom of it,” Mekies said of this year’s project. Even with very different 2026 regulations looming, he argued the team needs to keep proving its tools, methods and correlation. “That will give us confidence in the winter for next year’s car. So of course, it comes at a cost to the ’26 project. But we feel it’s the right trade-off for us.”
McLaren’s trade-off is the opposite: bank the title, divert brainpower to 2026 early, and live with the fact that a static car will be out-developed in the short term. On balance, that’s what happens when you think in championships, not headlines. And it’s why, even as Red Bull and Mercedes jab with fresh updates, Stella’s not blinking.
He’s pragmatic about the run-in, too. McLaren will still be dangerous at the right venues, and Norris has been operating at a level that keeps the team in every fight. But the plan remains the plan. When you’ve already scaled the 2025 mountain, you start mapping the 2026 route — even if the final few stages get scrappier than they used to.
In the end, Singapore told two stories at once: McLaren’s machine is still good enough to lock down a title with six weekends to spare, and the pack has squeezed the air from a gap that once looked canyon-wide. For fans, that means better Sundays. For McLaren, it means the hard work has simply shifted garages — from the truck to the wind tunnel.
The trophies will keep. The stopwatch, as ever, moves on.
