2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[De Wet]

Guys one question..

I have seen on some less reliable F1 sites that Zak and Oscar have an estranged relationship and Oscar is being mentioned to go away from McLaren and how much of this is true?

Bring Max in to replace him.

[kc_f1]

What's this news of Andrea Stella signing a pre-contract with Ferrari

[FittingMechanics]

What's this news of Andrea Stella signing a pre-contract with Ferrari

I would say that is just speculation and rumors. McLaren said both Zak and Stella are on multi year contracts so we are to believe Stella was signed for 2028 or 2029 in a Ferrari where you don't know how politics will work.

But even if he moves, these teams are not dependent on one person.

[CjC]

How recent is this news what Stella has signed a pre-contract though?

Everything we heard after GO signed was that Stella was staying…

[WardenOfTheNorth]

What's this news of Andrea Stella signing a pre-contract with Ferrari

Clickbait by the sounds of it.

[genarro]

What's this news of Andrea Stella signing a pre-contract with Ferrari

Clickbait by the sounds of it.

One "pundit thas is close to the team" says something and the internet goes batshit crazy. And these F1 site have a strong FOMO sindrome

[Waz]

All supposedly because his wife is not happy in England. Despite living there since 2015.

I see Stella moving to a higher role within McLaren Racing as a whole instead of going to Ferrari.

Vasseur is doing just fine with the Scuderia.

[SilviuAgo]

Oscar Piastri and George Russell were on hand for Pirelli's tyre test at the Nurburgring yesterday, for McLaren and Mercedes.
Piastri's day was compromised by a technical issue that kept him in the garage for most of the afternoon, and he set a best time of 1:35.096, completing 65 laps. And this is not good news at all for McLaren. The reliability issues remind me of 2005.
As a comparison, Russell did 127 laps and logged a 1:33.899.



Lando and Kimi took over the cars for day two on Wednesday.

[SilviuAgo]

And an update at the end of the day from @DanielValente:

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli & reigning champ Lando Norris finished the Pirelli tests today at Nurburgring.
• Norris did 108 laps (556 km) with a best time of 1:33:640
• Antonelli did 109 laps (561 km) with a best time of 1:32:990

In the first phase of the programme, the two drivers continued the work initiated by their respective teammates on the different construction variants of the C3 compound, completing several runs of eight laps each. In the final hours of track time, the two softer compounds were also evaluated, with longer runs. Antonelli ran the C4, while the C5 was fitted to Norris’s car.

[Darth-Piekus]

Ok and what exactly all that means?

[FittingMechanics]

Ok and what exactly all that means?

Nothing.

[Macklaren]

Ok and what exactly all that means?

It means we are all very bored and missing F1 action that we otherwise deserve

[Watto]

All supposedly because his wife is not happy in England. Despite living there since 2015.

I see Stella moving to a higher role within McLaren Racing as a whole instead of going to Ferrari.

Vasseur is doing just fine with the Scuderia.

I think this is all really just a case of people adding 2=2 and getting 5 kinda think with GP coming working out how it will all work.

But I'd say as to why now, he has a bigger profile not I think he had plenty to do with McLarens turn around which means people are willing to pay.

As for the rumour on his wife unhappy in England despite being there since 2015- is always a mixed bag some get used to it and don't look back but lots of things can heppen to change peoples mind, something happened within family some miss things over time.

I tend to think the latter news that GP is just taking some of the excess workload off him and allowing him to concentrate on a smaller list of things more makes a lot of sense or as you said maybe looking to be higher up in McLaren somewhere sound more likely though I think there will probably be question marks for a while even for a little while after GP arrives .

[SilviuAgo]

Ok and what exactly all that means?

For me it means that:
1, Formula 1 is trying to fill the empty space till Miami with some Pirelli test.
2. Nürburgring is back on F1 life and I hope we'll have a GP in Germany in the near future and to stop all this fantasy with Middle East and USA. No offence but I think is enough to have 3 or 4 GP there.
3. McLaren had the chance to test "for free" for two days. No updates but to check the systems was a huge opportunity.
4. On first day they kind 'a miss the chance by keeping Oscar half a day in the garage, so the reliability issues are still there.
5. Lando has now another 50+ laps in this MCL40 vs Oscar, but at this point the two drivers are working together and not against each other like previous year.
So yea, maybe for some this means nothing but for McLaren, the team with less laps than AM in the first 3 races, I think >150 laps means a lot in understanding better MCL40 and all the systems correlation.

[SilviuAgo]

Two-stage upgrades : Miami and Canadian Grand Prix weekends.