Stella makes Italian GP admission after Norris McLaren request

If McLaren can shine again at Monza, considering that long straights and big braking zones are not strengths of the MCL40, then there will be cause for optimism.

That is the verdict issued by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. It comes after Lando Norris claimed this MCL40 is not a title-winning car, requesting greater focus than ever before from McLaren to improve low-speed performance.

McLaren facing F1 2026 acid test at Monza

Norris has re-ignited his chances of a successful title defence with back-to-back wins at the Hungarian and Dutch GPs.

Norris reduced his deficit to Drivers’ Championship leader Kimi Antonelli to 83 points. Antonelli admitted after Zandvoort that Mercedes no longer has the fastest car, as he talked up the recent improvements made by McLaren.

Yet, Norris does not believe that this MCL40 can win a title. McLaren may be unmatched in high speed, but in slow speed, Norris spoke of a “crazy” deficit to Mercedes.

He requested better focus “than ever before” from McLaren to fix this weakness. Then, he is “confident that I can win every race this season.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella was also quizzed on McLaren’s outlook for the remainder of F1 2026, and whether, first of all, McLaren’s pace can translate into Monza.

The Italian Grand Prix is the acid test for McLaren, to Stella’s mind. He supported Norris’ theory on McLaren’s slow-speed performance, but added that long straights also are not a strength of the MCL40.

Long straights and braking zones define Monza.

“The real approach we have is just one race at a time,” Stella told PlanetF1.com and others. “There’s not much more you can influence than just maximising what’s next available, and the next race will be Monza.

“And if we think about the demand of Zandvoort and Hungary, and then we think about the demand of Monza, we are in a completely different regime.

“So I think if we can confirm our improvements in Monza, then I would say that the answer to your question is yes, we can look with some optimism for the reminder of the season.

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“But first of all, we need to go to Monza and see that our car can express a good performance in the long straights. We know the drag is not necessarily a point of strength of our car, for instance.

“There’s a lot of braking, which not necessarily is a point of strength of our car.

“So there’s a lot of things that we need to confirm as we head on to the next race. But so far, I think we can confirm that when we are at high downforce circuits with this sort of layout, then we can fight for victories.”

McLaren has not won at Monza since Daniel Ricciardo’s sole victory with the team there in 2021.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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