Today's team representatives press conference with Alan Permane, Andrea Stella and Laurent Mekies
Andrea, why don't we start with you. It's been a busy couple of races for McLaren in terms of upgrades. What feedback did you get from the drivers after FP1?
Andrea Stella: Yes, it's good to be busy because you have new parts that you're bringing trackside to try and make the car faster. The first big round of upgrades, it was already planned to be brought to Miami, and here in Canada we have a few more things, like a front wing, bodywork, and this completes this first round. We are happy with what we saw in Miami in terms of the data that we measured, and also the impact that it had on our competitiveness. We are actually completing our review of what we tested here, especially the front wing. It was a significant upgrade, so there's some more work to do in terms of review, but so far, we are happy. I have to say that when I looked at the submission document this morning, you can see how much every team is pushing. Long list once again, after a large number of upgrades, pretty much for all teams, even here in Canada. And I think it will take a few races to understand how much this is affecting the pecking order. Like, if I take McLaren, Canada has been a tricky track in the past, so we will see how we do here, but in terms of understanding our competitiveness, I think we will have to look at a few races, not only Canada.
OK, but you're 86 points behind Mercedes now. How do you view the rest of the season and the World Championship?
AS: First of all, I see the season being very long. We have done just four events. There's at least 18 to go. It will always be a battle of development. That's what everyone said heading into this 2026 season. I think so far, and this was also the case in Miami, Mercedes are in a solid leadership. Here they took some more upgrades, so we will see how it works. It looks, based on P1, that it seems to be working well. I think in Miami, even when they were not leading, like in the Sprint Quali or in the Sprint, this was more to do with their under-optimisation rather than the potential not being there. Or if we look at the Sprint or the race, we see the impact of the starts, for instance. But I think there's no doubt that they have a faster car than all the others. And behind Mercedes, I think it's quite interesting to see how competitive the field is. I think it's good for Formula 1 to see McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, everyone close to each other. Obviously, we would like to try and find some performance and see if we can set the challenge to Mercedes.
Now, off track, the silly season has started early this year, and McLaren appears to be front and centre of that. Since you were last in this press conference, you've announced GP Lambiase, but there have also been rumours about you going to Ferrari, Oscar Piastri going to Red Bull. What is your reaction to all of these stories?
AS: Well, I think the reaction is in your question. You mentioned the silly season, and I think we are already fully in this silly season. When we think about Oscar, we couldn't be happier. I think we are seeing the best Oscar in the cockpit and also a happy Oscar, and the best version of himself outside the cockpit. Great dynamics and relationship with Lando, and I think the team is in its strongest shape since I've been Team Principal. So definitely it's very clear, the direction for maximum stability at McLaren. When it comes to myself, I'm definitely fully committed to McLaren. One of the things that makes me more proud of my experience as a Team Principal is that we managed to fill the cabinet at MTC with trophies, and this meant that we needed to create another area of the cabinet, a new one. And for me the mission is very clear: we need to fill that new area of the cabinet for the years to come at McLaren. And GP? It's very simple. At McLaren, we want to employ the best people in Formula 1, the best expertise, the best leaders. And the fact that GP decided to join McLaren, for me, just speaks to the credibility of our team. So, silly season, what's important for us is stability and that the best talents in Formula 1 want to join McLaren.
OK, Andrea, thank you for that. Laurent, can I bring you in on the silly season. I mean, Piastri to Red Bull, should we start with that?
Laurent Mekies: Yeah, we can start with that. Honestly, it's not so dissimilar to Andrea's comments, in the way that we have a very, very strong driver line-up, and the driver choice is not a question that we are asking ourselves right now. We have Max, nobody needs to present Max. He is pulling us up through a fairly complicated start of the season. Isack is doing a very, very good job. He has been dealing extremely well with a complicated car in the first three races, being very close to Max. He had a bit of a more difficult weekend in Miami, but we can see here straight away he's been in a good rhythm this morning. As far as we are concerned, we are super happy with the two guys behind the wheels.
Are you concerned that Max might follow GP Lambiase to McLaren?
LM: Look, no, I'm not concerned with Max following GP. We always have this joke. We are not going to ask Max every week if he's going to stay. Max is telling us he's happy at Red Bull. He is involved in every strategic decision we are making. He is at the heart of the project. He is pushing with us and we both want the same thing: getting back to a more competitive package. And he is central to that.
On the topic of Max, how much of his 24-hour race at the Nürburgring last weekend did you watch?
LM: We had a deal whereby when he was taking a bit too much risk, he'd hide [from] me the onboard, just for all of us to be a bit more relaxed. But no, look, it's been spectacular. He has missed the win by not much there, but certainly his speed was incredible. And he came back with a big smile, full of motivation for this Grand Prix, and that's what matters.
How nervous do you get watching your prized asset doing an event on the Nordschleife?
LM: We genuinely support Max in what he is trying to do there. When I say he's coming back with a big smile, he's coming back with a big smile. He's also having the big smile the week before because he knows he's going to do this different kind of racing. It's great that he's so in love with the sport, 360 degrees, every aspect of the sport. Of course, we are a little bit relieved when the race is over and we know he's going to jump on the plane and join us back. But overall, it's very positive for the sport, for motorsport as a whole, for Max and for the team.
OK, final one for me. On the topic of upgrades and the performance of the car, you made a big step in Miami. How confident are you of maintaining that run here in Montreal?
LM: We don't think it's going to be a nice, linear road of recovery with closing the gap every race. There are going to be some bumps. As Andrea explained, people are going to bring updates one race, yes; one race, no; and we are going to see variations. But certainly Miami put us back into the fight. We know we need a lot more, but it confirms that most of the difficulties we have faced at the beginning of the season, we have managed to cure. We know we have a bit more to do and to get on with the development race at full speed now.
OK, Laurent, thank you for that. Alan, if we come to you now, can we start just with a frustrating FP1 for Liam Lawson. What were his issues?
Alan Permane: Yeah, very frustrating. And especially in a Sprint weekend, it's tough to lose the car so early on. Hydraulic leak. As I came up here, we didn't have the car back yet, so I don't know how serious it is. It could be something very simple and we're out comfortably for the next session, or it could be something a bit more terminal. So, yeah, watch this space.
And with it being a Sprint weekend, just how much more complicated is Liam's weekend looking now?
AP: Yeah, very complicated. If we can get him out for Sprint Quali, I think we would then turn the weekend, as we have done a little bit with both cars. It's very difficult for us to score points in a Sprint. We managed it in Shanghai with a nice strategy for the Sprint, with a nice tyre strategy. But I think with the way that the top four cars are, that locks out all the points. So what we had said, and I had said it especially to Arvid, we should treat P1, Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint a little bit like P1, P2 and P3, and make sure we're absolutely nailed on ready for qualifying on Saturday evening. Now, Liam's going to face a little bit of that. Arvid obviously ignored that advice and was eighth this morning, and has got a smile on his face and looks reasonably happy, although some people haven't set a lap time on softs, so it's a little bit difficult, but he's reasonably happy with the car. But for Liam, I think it will be, well, the first step will be getting the car ready. Next step will be getting through Sprint Quali 1.
On the subject of Arvid, he was in the press conference yesterday and he spoke of being satisfied with how season one was going for him in Formula 1. Can we get your take on his progress? What's impressed you about him?
AP: It's been good. He started off at a high level, of course. I think he's been very smart in the people he has around him off track. He has Ollie Rowland looking after him, or being a mentor, or a sounding board, or whatever you want to call it. Ollie is here this weekend, so he's a really good asset to have. He's quite demanding, Arvid, which I think is good as well. He wants everything immediately. If anything, to sort of calm him down and keep him there. You can see he's aiming high, aiming for the top. He's self-critical, which is, again, I find a good and refreshing thing in drivers. The first place he looks is himself to find performance. So, no issues with Arvid, he's doing a very good job.
Check out our Friday gallery from Montreal here.
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