McLaren has shared an honest assessment of its performance in the debut of the 2026 Formula 1 season, highlighting a difference of up to one second per lap compared to Mercedes after the Australian Grand Prix. The British team finished the race in a disappointing stage, with its driver Lando Norris achieving fifth place.
George Russell drove a Mercedes one-two in Melbourne, finishing ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli, demonstrating that the German team is the clear favorite in this new season. Although Ferrari made a considerable effort to challenge, finishing in third and fourth places with Charles Leclerc directly competing with Russell, McLaren feels far from the fight at the front.
Andrea Stella, McLaren’s director, acknowledged that the performance gap is concerning, especially since the team also uses the same engine as Mercedes. Before the race, Stella had anticipated that the start of 2026 would be difficult. “The difference today was similar to what we observed yesterday in qualifying,” he commented.
McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified in fifth and sixth places, respectively, with margins of 0.862s and 0.957s behind Russell. Stella has indicated the need to better exploit their engine and improve the car’s grip in order to reduce the distance to their rivals. This distance currently ranges from half a second to one second.
Lando Norris agreed with Stella’s analysis, expressing that despite the apparent deficiencies, the large gap with the cars behind was a positive point, but the difference with those ahead was alarming. “We are not in the position we need to be with the car and we have to improve a lot,” he concluded.
