McLaren team principal Andrea Stella looks back on the first half of the 2026 season for his team. The reigning world champions experienced a difficult start to the season, after the British team had won both world titles in 2025. According to Stella, McLaren paid a high price for their double victory at the end of last year: “But unity is strength in times of great difficulty.”
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In 2025, Lando Norris not only became world champion for the first time, but his team McLaren also successfully defended its constructor’s title. However, that dominance was largely gone at the start of 2026 – and the new regulation cycle – and McLaren had to watch as Mercedes took the lead in both championships.
“After three years of steady progress, in which we managed to win three of the four world titles between 2024 and 2025, the start of this season meant a real reset,” team principal Andrea Stella reflects on the first half of the season for the McLaren website. “That was not only because the rule changes were probably the most drastic in the history of this sport. We also realized how heavy the price was that we had paid for the efforts we made in 2025 to secure both titles.”
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‘Unity in strength’
McLaren eventually only took the first win of the year during the Hungarian GP, the last race before the summer break. “I think the most important lesson we have learned from these seven months of hard work is that unity means strength in times of great difficulty,” said Stella. “We have, first and foremost to ourselves, shown how crucial team spirit is to recover and get back on track towards the top.”
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Read everything about the Dutch GP in Zandvoort here
