Andrea Stella on Red Bull: "I have enough work at McLaren"

Pulse Sports Team 16:28 - 14 July 2026

McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella insists he has enough on his plate with his own team's challenges to worry about the issues facing rival F1 outfits. This came after he was asked what he would do in the shoes of Laurent Mekies at Red Bull.

The Milton Keynes-based team is battling to retain its star driver Max Verstappen, who has been linked with a move to McLaren, potentially bringing his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase with him.

The situation is further complicated by the RB22 car proving difficult to drive and set up, with a rotating rear wing causing the Dutchman two high-speed incidents in recent weeks – at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, respectively. The 28-year-old driver has openly expressed his dissatisfaction with these problems.

The start of the season hasn't been easy for McLaren either, with Lando Norris encountering numerous reliability issues, and the MCL40 car rarely appearing capable of fighting for wins, or even podiums at times.

Therefore, when asked what he would do in Mekies' position, Stella was quick to highlight the significant amount of work facing him and his team as the reigning constructors' champions try to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.

"You mean, if I were in Laurent's shoes?" the Italian responded at a media briefing. "You know, I have enough work at McLaren to catch up half a second in the shortest possible time."

"We shouldn't forget that we also didn't have a good start to the season from a reliability standpoint, and that applies to both the power unit and the chassis," he added.

Stella cited the British Grand Prix as an example, where he believes the team called Oscar Piastri into the pits a lap too late, to illustrate his point.

"Even today, from an operational point of view, I maintain that we should have pitted Oscar one lap earlier and we would have saved time," he said. "So, I think as Andrea Stella, I have enough work at McLaren not to think about what Laurent should be doing."

While avoiding the specific question, the 55-year-old boss offered some warm words for his colleague: "Laurent is very capable, very intelligent, and competent, so I'm sure he will do whatever is necessary. I hope McLaren and Red Bull can join Mercedes and Ferrari to have an even more exciting Formula 1 in the second half of the season."