McLaren boss concedes unexpected 'heavy price' of championship double

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has conceded that the team's early-season struggles this term were likely a hangover from its championship glory in 2025. 

McLaren secured a Formula 1 championship double in 2025, with Lando Norris scoring the team its first drivers' crown since Lewis Hamilton's success in 2007.

But a relentless push to fend off Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the season saw the team put extra resources into its outgoing car, meaning that there was less focus on the all-new regulations of the current campaign. 

“I believe the most important lesson we’ve taken away from these seven months of hard work is that, in times of great difficulty, unity is strength," said Stella. 

"We’ve demonstrated, first and foremost to ourselves, just how crucial team cohesion is to bouncing back and getting back on track towards the top. 

“After three years of steady progress that saw us win three out of four world titles between 2024 and 2025, the start of this season has been a real reset: not only because the rule changes were probably the most significant ever in the history of this sport, but above all because we realised just how heavy a price we had paid for the effort we put in during 2025 to secure the world double. 

“We could have fallen apart; we could have found excuses for not being able to start the championship as we’d finished the previous one, but that wasn’t the case. We tried to understand the technical and strategic reasons, and we focused our efforts. And that makes me truly proud of this team.”

Through its recovery, McLaren has once again proven its ability to develop a car during a season, with Lando Norris entering the summer shutdown as a race winner once again, having stood atop the podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix. 

Stella added: "It is clear that the Budapest weekend, which brought the first half of the season to a close, was the highlight: not only because of the result, but above all because the aerodynamic package we introduced at the Hungaroring is the result of this change of direction in development and has enabled us to make significant progress in terms of competitiveness.”