Andrea Stella impressed by Kimi Antonelli amid McLaren F1 driver pairing claim

Andrea Stella has been impressed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s start to the 2026 Formula 1 season but believes McLaren has the driver line-up to win the constructors’ championship.

Antonelli has raced into a surprise 20-point championship lead over Mercedes team-mate and pre-season title favourite George Russell after taking three victories from the opening four races of the campaign.

The 19-year-old Italian secured a historic hat-trick of wins last time out at the Miami Grand Prix to further strengthen his advantage over Russell at the top of the drivers’ standings.

McLaren team principal Stella admitted he expected Russell to hold the edge at Mercedes in 2026.

“I think we should really pay credit to the quality of the driving, the consistency, the speed in both a single lap in the race and overall execution. We should pay credit to what Kimi is showing, he's actually delivering on track,” Stella told media including Crash.net.

"I would have said after testing that George [Russell] was in a stronger position, which was the case until Australia, but for some reason things seem to have turned around and once again I think this is thanks to the good work that Kimi must be doing with his engineers and with the people around him.

“There's always a group of people around a driver and success comes because this synergy works and I think Kimi must be having all these conditions in place. Well done to Kimi, well done to Mercedes.”

A major upgrade package helped McLaren emerge as Mercedes’ nearest rivals in Miami as the team sealed a double podium finish as the reigning world champions bounced back following a difficult start to the season.

McLaren sits third in the constructors’ championship on 94 points, 86 behind championship leaders Mercedes.

Despite a rocky start to the year, Stella maintains that his side has the strongest driver pairing on the F1 grid in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. 

“I think we have seen for McLaren, if I may say, that in Japan with a car that wasn't competitive yet, Oscar was in condition to fight for the win again and score a podium,” the Italian said.

“Oscar confirming a podium finish here and Lando, one win in the sprint and in the fight for the victory here.

“When we look in particular at the Constructors' championship, I think we are from a driver's point of view probably the strongest pair. We want to capitalise on this strength that we have at McLaren, but we need to make the car a little bit faster.”