McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella said the team “definitely want to defend the championship” after their strongest weekend of the season in Miami, but he urged caution given how early it is in the year.
After a difficult start to the campaign — which included both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to start in China — McLaren showed signs of recovery in Japan, where Piastri took the team’s first podium of 2026 with a second place. The momentum continued in Miami: Norris won the Sprint in the upgraded MCL40 and the team recorded a double podium on Sunday, finishing P2 and P3.
Stella stressed that the results are encouraging but that it is still too early to talk about championships. “If we now start to consider championships at the end of the season, then I think we need to be a bit careful because we are just at the fourth race,” he said. He highlighted that Miami coincided with McLaren’s first upgrade and that certain circuits can suit particular development paths. “We will have to see more,” he added.
At the same time Stella acknowledged that the team have taken a useful chunk of points and believe further development is possible. “We have said already before Miami that the championship is not a sign-off, so our logic is to look at the long term, try and defend the championship,” he said, “but as soon as we say that, we come back to the present and we do the right thing today because there’s really not much point in thinking so far forward. But definitely we want to defend the championship.”
Stella also paid tribute to championship leader Kimi Antonelli and to Mercedes, while praising the McLaren driver duo. He credited Antonelli’s performance to strong teamwork around the driver, and pointed to McLaren’s consistency: “Oscar, confirming a podium finish in Japan, and Lando, one win in the Sprint and fighting for victory here. I think from a driver’s point of view, we are 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.”
After four rounds McLaren lie third in the Constructors’ Championship on 94 points. In the Drivers’ standings Norris and Piastri sit fourth and sixth with 51 and 43 points respectively. Stella’s message was clear: the team has reason for optimism after Miami, but the task ahead is to keep developing the car and convert the strong driver performances into sustained championship contention.