Daily News 19

Tag: Andrea Stella

  • Lando Norris Extends McLaren Contract Through the 2030 F1 Season

    Lando Norris Extends McLaren Contract Through the 2030 F1 Season

    Lando Norris signs McLaren contract extension through at least 2030

    Lando Norris and McLaren have agreed to a long-term contract extension that will keep the reigning Formula 1 world champion with the team until at least 2030.

    McLaren announced the agreement on Saturday morning, confirming that Norris had committed to the team through 2030, with multi-year options to extend his stay further. The 26-year-old personally shared the news with staff at McLaren’s Woking factory during the team’s annual family and friends open day.

    “McLaren is my home, and I’m very pleased to be signing a new contract to keep me with the team until at least 2030,” Norris said. “When I started this journey nine years ago, I was clear about the goals I wanted to achieve: to get McLaren back to the front and to win championships.

    “We’ve achieved that goal, but we want more, we want to keep on winning, and we know as a team that we’re capable of achieving it. I can’t wait to get back in the car in Monza and I’m very excited about what the future holds for us, both over the rest of this season, and in the coming years.”

    Norris commits future to McLaren

    Norris’s previous contract was due to run until the end of 2027, meaning the new deal extends his expected stay at Woking by at least four years. His team-mate Oscar Piastri remains under contract through the end of 2028 after signing an extension at the start of last year.

    Although Formula 1 salaries are rarely disclosed, Norris is expected to receive a significant pay rise following his world championship success and continued development as a driver. He has made a strong start to 2026, taking advantage of McLaren’s car upgrades to win the most recent grands prix in Hungary and the Netherlands.

    Lando Norris, McLaren. Photo by: Pauline Ballet – Formula 1

    As part of the celebrations surrounding his new contract, Norris was also presented with his championship-winning 2025 car, the MCL39.

    Team principal Andrea Stella said he was “delighted” to continue working with Norris for the foreseeable future.

    “He is an exceptional driver, someone who combines outstanding natural speed with maturity, consistency and a strong commitment to McLaren, but above all, he is a special human being who is valued by everyone in the team,” Stella said.

    “Since joining McLaren as part of our junior programme, he has grown with us and played a central role in bringing the team back to the front of Formula 1. This extension gives us important continuity and reinforces our confidence in the direction we are taking together. With him and Oscar, we know we can count not only on one of the strongest partnerships but also on one of the most united and close-knit teams in Formula 1.”

    Norris’s McLaren record

    Norris joined McLaren’s junior programme in 2017 before being promoted to a race seat in 2019. He has raced exclusively for the papaya team since then, recording 13 Grand Prix victories, 18 pole positions and 48 podium finishes.

    McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who has played an integral role in guiding Norris through the team’s ranks, said: “His journey with the team is a fantastic example of our commitment to identifying, developing and supporting world-class talent, and his achievements speak for themselves.

    “Together with Andrea, Oscar and the wider team, Lando has helped drive McLaren into a new papaya era of success, helping us go from the back of the grid, to double consecutive constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025 and our first drivers’ championship in 17 years.

    “We are extremely excited about what lies ahead and remain fully focused on continuing to compete for wins and championships.”

  • How Lando Norris Has Improved Since Winning His F1 Title, According to McLaren

    How Lando Norris Has Improved Since Winning His F1 Title, According to McLaren

    McLaren’s Formula 1 title defence looked increasingly unlikely just over a month ago. Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli led the 2026 championship with 204 points, while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had scored 103 and 92 respectively.

    McLaren then introduced a major upgrade package at the Hungaroring, targeting the front and rear corner bodywork and adding a new floor and rear wing. The impact was immediate. Norris converted pole position into victory in Hungary before winning again at Zandvoort, where he passed Antonelli around the outside at Turn 1. The reigning champion is now 83 points behind the championship leader.

    Although the results suggest McLaren’s upgrades transformed its performance, team principal Andrea Stella believes Norris is also extracting the maximum from the MCL40—and may even be outperforming the car.

    “Lando is driving and operating at a very high level, in absolute sense, in relation to a Formula 1 world champion,” Stella commented following the Dutch Grand Prix. “He’s driving at the level of a world champion.

    “And like I always say for Lando, what I like the most of his journey in Formula 1 is that he keeps improving. And especially after the start of the 2025 season, something clicked, which is not only a single click, but is a way of working with Lando, for Lando, and that we are adopting also on Oscar’s side now in particular. And this approach has led Lando to continuous improvements.

    “So it’s almost like I see Lando stronger and stronger race by race. Because this weekend was nowhere near a weekend in which we could fight for the victory for granted, especially after having seen the performance in the sprint.

    “But we invested in trying to understand where was the opportunity from a tyre exploitation point of view, and car improvement. Actually, both drivers improved from this point of view, but unfortunately a question mark remains as to the behaviour of the second stint of Oscar.

    “So there’s overall a positive trajectory for both, but at the moment Lando is capable of maximising the performance in qualifying trim. If we think the start of 2025, this had become a bit of a concern that he overcame. And then, when you have conditions in which the car slides in the race, there’s not much grip, he is the master in this kind of conditions.”

    Norris has gained the edge in qualifying

    Qualifying performance has become a key indicator of Norris’ recent advantage over his McLaren team-mate.

    Throughout the 2025 season, Norris and Piastri were evenly matched over one lap, sharing a 15-15 qualifying head-to-head record when sprint qualifying sessions are included.

    After Formula 1 introduced new machinery in 2026, Norris initially trailed Piastri 3-1 before the unexpected April break. Since then, however, the reigning champion has dominated the comparison, beating Piastri 12-1. Piastri’s only qualifying victory in that period came in Monaco.

    The average gap remains relatively small at 0.128 seconds, but it has consistently favoured Norris as Piastri continues to search for his best form.

    Stella believes Norris’ improved mindset, rather than technical gains alone, has helped him develop more effective racecraft.

    “If you want to look at Lando from another angle, I would say that definitely he is now expressing a higher level of assertiveness as he drives,” the Italian pointed out. “You know, the manoeuvre to pass Antonelli today is a really good demonstration of that. He’s demonstrating more self-confidence.

    “This is interesting, and I quite like it – the self-confidence sometimes is not demonstrated by being the most aggressive. Sometimes you are self-confident when you think like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to have a fight now because I may lose in this fight. It’s a very long race. See you at the end of the race.’

    “It’s this confidence in your means, in your strength, that I quite like. Which means that sometimes you are actually the one backing off when the situation becomes too risky.

    “We need to remember that in the last couple of races that he won, he didn’t defend the pole position. He was actually second at the end of the first lap. But I did not hear or perceive any decay in his confidence, as to the fact that he was fast and he was just preparing his opportunity to then cash in on his competitiveness. So I think assertiveness and confidence are probably the two characteristics that he has improved the most from a non-technical, non-operational point of view.”

    Source: www.motorsport.com

  • Why McLaren Must Pass Its Monza Test Before Pursuing an F1 Title Challenge

    Why McLaren Must Pass Its Monza Test Before Pursuing an F1 Title Challenge

    McLaren Faces Crucial Monza Test After Consecutive F1 Victories

    After a difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, McLaren appears to have returned to the front of the grid. The Woking-based team struggled with its understanding of the Mercedes power unit in Australia and suffered a double DNS in China, but consecutive victories in Budapest and Zandvoort have changed the outlook.

    Lando Norris has cut his deficit to championship leader Kimi Antonelli to 83 points, reigniting McLaren’s hopes of defending his drivers’ title. However, team principal Andrea Stella is refusing to draw premature conclusions about a potential championship fight.

    Monza will test McLaren’s recent progress

    Stella wants McLaren to focus on one race at a time rather than look too far ahead.

    “Beyond any way of saying, the real approach we have is just one race at a time. There’s not much more you can influence than just maximising what’s next available,” Stella said when asked by Motorsport.com how much confidence this gives McLaren for the second half of the season.

    “The next race will be in Monza, and if we think about the demands of Zandvoort and Hungary, and then think about the demands of Monza, we are in a completely different regime.”

    That difference makes the Italian Grand Prix an important internal benchmark for McLaren. The Hungaroring and Zandvoort are both high-downforce circuits, while Monza is a high-speed track dominated by long straights and chicanes.

    McLaren was able to exploit the strengths of the MCL40 in Hungary and the Netherlands, particularly through medium-speed corners. However, Norris described the car’s slow-speed performance on Saturday as “nowhere near good enough”.

    Monza will therefore demand a different set of qualities from the McLaren. Stella considers the circuit one of the team’s most important tests yet because it will reveal whether its recent gains can translate to a low-downforce layout.

    Energy management remains a key concern

    Unlike Zandvoort and Budapest, Monza is an “energy-starved” circuit, placing greater emphasis on energy management and the team’s understanding of the Mercedes power unit.

    McLaren was significantly behind the Mercedes works team in that area at the start of the season. The team has made substantial progress since then, including through the long-awaited simulation tools it received for Spa. Monza will provide a clearer indication of how valuable those improvements are at a circuit where power-unit understanding is especially important.

    Stella wants those questions answered before McLaren begins discussing a title challenge.

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

    “But first of all, we need to go to Monza and see that our car can express a good performance in the long straights.”

    Monza will also test McLaren’s low-downforce configuration, which has not been one of the MCL40’s strongest areas. Stella stressed that the challenge is not limited to understanding the Mercedes power unit.

    “We know that drag is not necessarily a point of strength of our car,” he said. “And, for instance, there’s a lot of braking as well, which is not necessarily a point of strength of our car either.”

    Stella remains cautious on Norris’ title hopes

    For now, Stella is limiting his conclusions to specific circuit characteristics rather than discussing a title defence with Norris. McLaren must first prove that its recent form is not restricted to high-downforce tracks.

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

  • Andrea Stella Challenges Mercedes’ Claim It Can’t Afford F1 Upgrades: “I actually don’t believe you”

    Andrea Stella Challenges Mercedes’ Claim It Can’t Afford F1 Upgrades: “I actually don’t believe you”

    McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella has dismissed Toto Wolff’s claim that Mercedes lacks the budget to accelerate its car development programme.

    Ferrari and McLaren have made major gains with their 2026 cars in recent weeks. Both teams have taken two victories, increasing the pressure on Mercedes after its earlier dominance.

    Mercedes delays major F1 upgrade package

    Mercedes has introduced only a limited number of aerodynamic upgrades compared with its rivals. The team is instead planning to bring a larger package to the October Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

    The delay could leave Mercedes vulnerable during the next three September races in Italy, Spain and Azerbaijan. Asked by Motosport.com after the Dutch Grand Prix whether the development strategy was becoming more difficult to justify amid McLaren’s rapid progress, Wolff said Mercedes was constrained by how its Brackley operation had allocated its $215m cost-cap allowance.

    “We haven’t got the money to put developments on the car. I said before that we are trying to evenly split that through the season based on our calculations of when we can bring the biggest updates and optimising the championship points. But we just can’t do what we can’t do,” the Austrian said.

    “You will see towards the end of the season whether they are going to be able to deploy as much stuff onto the car as they do now.

    “Someone might have a different strategy in spending more at the beginning and the middle of the year than towards the end.”

    When asked about Wolff’s comments, McLaren chief Stella expressed strong doubts about Mercedes’ financial explanation.

    “I would like to believe you, but I actually don’t believe you.”

    Andrea Stella cast doubt on Mercedes’ claims

    Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

    McLaren points to additional 2026 cost-cap allowance

    Stella’s scepticism relates partly to changes in the 2027 power-unit regulations. The rules will move Formula 1 towards a 57-43 split between combustion power and electrical energy, while also affecting specific areas of car design.

    Teams have been granted an additional $3m cost-cap allowance that can be used in their 2026 or 2027 reporting to prepare for those changes. Stella said Mercedes could use that allowance to manufacture upgraded car components if it chose to do so.

    “All teams will have an allowance in their reporting for the cost cap,” Stella said. “And if I’m not wrong, it’s like three million that you can use in the 2026 reporting for cost cap calculations. And I’m sure that Mercedes, having seen that their rivals are kind of elevating the game, I’m sure they will now cash in on their development that surely is happening in the ground.

    “I’m sure the car in the wind tunnel is quite a bit faster than the car they have on track and they will want to now convert some of this potential into upgrades that make it to the real car. So, I’m just pretty sure that they will have upgrades. Obviously, it would be good if not, but I don’t even want to think about it…”