​McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was asked what he would do if he were in Laurent Mekies’ position at Red Bull, facing the threat of losing his lead driver after a disappointing first half of the season. For days, speculation has mounted about Max Verstappen potentially leaving at the end of the year, with a move to McLaren surfacing as a possible destination. Such a transfer would see the Dutchman paired with reigning world champion Lando Norris, even though McLaren has not enjoyed a strong start to the 2026 campaign. Speaking to GPBlog and others at Silverstone, Stella stressed that his focus remains squarely on driving improvements at McLaren, highlighting that the team still has substantial performance to unlock while also tackling reliability issues in both the power unit and chassis. Rather than weighing in on how Mekies should manage Red Bull’s situation, he pointed out that McLaren has plenty to address within its own operation. “I have enough to do at McLaren to gain half a second in the shortest amount of time. We mustn’t forget that we haven’t had a good start to the season from a reliability perspective either. And this extends to the power unit as well as the chassis.”
Stella also praised Mekies, describing him as highly capable and expressing confidence that he will make the right calls at Red Bull. He added that he hopes both McLaren and Red Bull can close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, making the second half of the Formula 1 season even more competitive. “As Andrea Stella, there’s enough to do at McLaren, not to think about what Laurent should do. Laurent is very capable, very intelligent, very competent. I’m sure he will do everything necessary, and I hope McLaren and Red Bull can eventually join Mercedes and Ferrari so we can have an even more exciting Formula 1 in the latter part of the season.”
Zak Brown, addressing the media at Silverstone, admitted that McLaren would naturally prefer to already have Mercedes’ latest power unit specification, but stressed that the team is not frustrated by the delay. Instead, he explained that the upgrade will arrive in due course and that the focus remains on maximizing performance with the current package until then. The McLaren chief executive also clarified that the team cannot simply install the new specification whenever it chooses, as the current engines still have mileage left before the planned replacement point. He noted that other Mercedes-powered teams introduced the updated engine sooner because their circumstances required an earlier engine change, whereas McLaren must follow its own rotation before fitting the latest specification. “Of course we’d like to have it. Any time you have [the opportunity], we’ll take it, but we’re not going to rush. We’ll upgrade when the time is right and when our program allows it.”