Andrea Stella: Mercedes ‘definitely raised the bar’ for McLaren

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged Mercedes “definitely raised the bar” with its early running in Barcelona.

Mercedes led the overall mileage during ‘Shakedown Week’, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli having clocked 500 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya across its three allotted days of running.

McLaren: Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all off to a strong start

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McLaren confirmed it reached 291 laps around Barcelona during its allotted run time last time out, with Lando Norris getting set to defend his Drivers’ title and McLaren going into the year as back-to-back Constructors’ Champions.

While 10 of the 11 teams were present in Barcelona, minus Williams, Stella confirmed it was tough to get a hold on where teams’ relative performance levels may lie, given the cold weather in Spain and not having a full indicator of what runs, fuel levels and engine modes were in play.

However, the McLaren team principal added that, with Red Bull and Ferrari also showing up strongly to begin with, the different power units in all three teams may be a sign that all three may be competitive – a good sign for the PU manufacturers and their customers.

With Mercedes leading the lap count and being in and around the top of the leaderboard whenever they ran, however, Stella acknowledged the work of the team’s rival.

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Winners and losers from the Barcelona testing shakedown (Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya)

“In terms of performance, it is obviously very difficult to give an objective assessment, as we do not know the other teams’ work programmes, fuel levels or work schedules,” Stella clarified in a Q&A on McLaren’s official website.

“In addition, the environmental conditions were quite different from what we normally experience on race weekends. That said, it is clear that there are at least three competitors – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – who have all got off to a good start.

“In particular, the Brackley team has definitely raised the bar, and we will have to work hard to do the same.

“The fact that the three teams I mentioned are equipped with three different power units is a first indication that there may not be extremely marked differences in terms of absolute performance, at least as far as some of the PU suppliers are concerned.

“More than ever before, this year it will be the ability of the teams and drivers to exploit the package at their disposal, as well as the ability to develop the car in the right direction, that will make the difference.

“In any case, what we see in the first part of the season in terms of the balance of power will almost certainly not be the same as what we see in the second part, precisely because the effects of car development in an early phase, such as the one we are experiencing now, can only be very significant.”

McLaren will conduct a filming day on Tuesday, prior to Bahrain testing beginning in earnest on Wednesday. Oscar Piastri will take the wheel all day on the first day of running, before handing over to Norris for Thursday, and the pair will share driving duties on the final day.

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