McLaren told to 'sort issues' as reliability bites
Two retirements in three races have Mark Webber sounding the alarm and Andrea Stella conceding the truth: McLaren's title defence is undermined by unreliability and a customer engine.
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."
A reliability reckoning
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."
Off the pace too
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."
Constructors record at a glance
| Constructors titles | 9 (latest 2024) |
|---|---|
| Drivers titles | 12 |
| First F1 race | 1966 |
| Based | Woking, England |
| 2026 status | Title defence under strain |
See also: F1 championship history on F1-Fansite.
Related: Mercedes left hunting answers after Russell battery failure
3 F1 Fan comments on “McLaren told to 'sort issues' as reliability bites”
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In 2024 they were already off the mark and they couldn't catch Max. I'd like to see Lando with a good car this year - still think many underestimate him.
Mercedes customer teams had already had power unit issues before George's troubles. If anything, it was heartening to see a Mercedes Mercedes suffer a failure. Since I think the allocation of specific engines is not down to Mercedes themselves, they may be doing something different with the packaging?
If there were mice in the machine, they might have kept Lando's car going in Monaco. I'm not sure what the FIA would rule on the presence of rodent-propelled cars, though!
Mark Webber has mice on his brain, understandable really as this year in Australia, they are over run with rodents, so if mice are involved they are Australian ones. cobber..!!!!
Yes, and by all reckoning, it is the only place on earth where the mice are six feet tall, with a reptilian whip-lash tail, and raptor like claws on their feet.
It's not all lovey-dovey Kanga and Roo chillin in the 100 - Acre Wood Disney Trash. Oh, no. Something far more sinister than that.
More will be revealed!