McLaren deliver Austrian GP prediction after Ferrari upset

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has backed Mercedes to return to form at the Austrian Grand Prix after missing out on victory last time out.

Mercedes’ run of consecutive wins came to an end in Barcelona earlier this month when Lewis Hamilton secured his first victory for Ferrari.

The Italian squad introduced a range of upgrades in Spain that helped bring it into closer contention with Mercedes.

However, Stella believes the layout of the Red Bull Ring in Austria could swing momentum back in Mercedes’ favour.

“Austria is a slightly different circuit,” Stella told media including RacingNews365 

“Stability, braking and turning is so essential in Barcelona.

“There, there's more straight-line braking, then you're going into some corners low speed, and so it's a slightly different circuit compared to [Barcelona].

“I would expect that Ferrari remains the faster car in the corners.

“Probably Mercedes over a single lap the best car overall when the chassis and the power unit are both considered.”

Having entered the year seeking to defend its double-championship success from 2025, McLaren found itself down the pecking order and unable to challenge for victories during the opening rounds.

While a battle at the front has formed between Mercedes and Ferrari in the latest round of upgrades, Stella stated McLaren is focused on its own improvements to get involved in the fight.

“We aim for the coming races to develop our car further by bringing some upgrades, but at the same time, we are certain that our competitors will also have some upgrades,” he said.

“We want to look at our own trajectory. We want to make sure that race by race, we improve our car and then we kind of let the results take care of themselves. 

“So maximum focus at the moment I would say internal, is what we need to do to improve the car.

“Then once we are racing, we will see what we need to do. It could be another hot and high degradation weekend, so it's also important that we improve from a tyre exploitation point of view.”