McLaren team principal Andrea Stella does not believe any of Toto Wolff’s claims about the development of the Mercedes W17. The Austrian team principal said after the Dutch GP that his team has no money to implement developments on their car. Nonsense, thinks Stella, who believes Wolff is bluffing: “They will certainly have upgrades again”.
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Mercedes has not brought any large-scale upgrades for the W17 since the last Canadian GP. Since then, close competitors Ferrari and McLaren have already brought extensive upgrade packages twice, which means that the dominant advantage Mercedes had earlier this year is now gone. Team principal Toto Wolff stated in Zandvoort that his team simply cannot keep up with the upgrade pace of its two rivals. “We don’t have the money to put developments into the car,” he told Sky Sports.
Stella sees through Wolff’s bluff
However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella did not believe a word of his competitor’s statements. “I would like to believe Toto (Wolff, ed.), but I actually don’t,” he said. The reason for the Italian’s skepticism lies in the fact that teams will receive an additional allowance of 3 million dollars within the cost cap before 2027 to prepare for the next regulations. “All teams get extra space within the cost cap in their reporting,” Stella continued. “And if I’m correct, that’s about three million that you can use in the 2026 report for the cost cap calculations.”
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According to the McLaren team principal, Mercedes has therefore long been working behind the scenes on the next upgrade package. “I am sure that Mercedes, now they see their rivals raising the bar higher and higher, will benefit from the developments that undoubtedly take place behind the scenes,” said Stella. “I am sure the car in the wind tunnel is much faster than the car they have on the track, and that they now want to convert part of this potential into upgrades that find their way to the real car. So I am quite sure they will have upgrades. Of course, it would be nice if that were not the case, but I don’t even dare to think about that…”
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