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.”
