Jun.9 (GMM) McLaren’s title defence is showing increasing signs of strain, according to Oscar Piastri’s manager Mark Webber.
The former Formula 1 driver is concerned by a growing list of reliability problems, with Lando Norris retiring in Monaco after a second consecutive race weekend marred by technical trouble.
“China, Montreal, and now Monaco,” Webber said.
“There are too many mice in the machine.”
Norris suffered a power-unit related retirement in Monaco after radioing: “No power, no battery.”
The failure followed George Russell’s battery-related retirement while leading in Canada, prompting speculation that Mercedes’ customer teams could also be affected.
“Obviously, they’ll be trying very hard to figure out what’s going on now, whether it’s problems with Mercedes, the battery, or something else,” Webber said.
“They’ve won two championships, so they know what they’re doing. But it’s been a very difficult period for the entire team so far.”
“They need to sort these issues out.”
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admits reliability has become a concern.
“We have not been reliable enough,” he said.
“If we look at the reliability, we’ve actually had problems in all parts of the car.”
The Italian also believes McLaren’s status as a Mercedes customer team is becoming more of a disadvantage under the all-new 2026 regulations.
“More than ever, we’ve felt that being a customer team has put us at a disadvantage,” Stella admitted.
“Not because you have a lower priority, but because you have fewer opportunities to integrate everything and stay on the same timeline.”
Beyond reliability, McLaren is also struggling for outright speed.
Norris admitted in Monaco that the team was “six tenths of a second off over a single lap”, while Stella said both Monaco and Canada exposed deeper performance issues.
“We haven’t been fast enough,” he acknowledged. “Especially in terms of race pace, both in Canada and here.”
According to Stella, the car is currently lacking grip and aerodynamic load. “Nor do we get the tyres in the window in which they perform best,” he added.
Despite the setbacks, Stella insists McLaren has not abandoned hope of another turnaround similar to 2024.
“We keep the mindset that this can again become a kind of 2024, in which we come back at the end,” he said.
But he also admitted the situation looks less encouraging this time.
“In 2024, our line was more convincing in terms of reliability and performance.”
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