McLaren Formula 1 team boss Andrea Stella says the team needs to step up its development program if it is to catch Mercedes and keep up with the other top teams.

McLaren has been consistently behind the leading Mercedes cars this season and in recent races it saw both Ferrari and Red Bull make bigger swings with rafts of aerodynamic upgrades. McLaren didn't bring significant upgrades to this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualifying sixth and seventh respectively - four tenths behind polesitter George Russell over the Red Bull Ring's short lap.

Team principal Stella acknowledged McLaren is two to three months behind Mercedes regarding its aerodynamic development and has called on his team to step up the intensity of its upgrade programme to keep up with what he called the highest level he's ever seen in F1.

"We talk about three months of development that we need to catch up. There's only one way of doing so, which is to out-develop competitors," Stella acknowledged on Saturday night. "We need to rev our engine higher. We need to have more intensity in the business. We need to be good at delivering effective solutions.

"What I see in the pipeline is very promising, especially in terms of aerodynamic upgrades, but at the same time we need to land with these upgrades trackside as soon as possible.

"I think what we see in 2026 is Formula 1 operating at a level that has never been the case before. If we see the upgrades that Red Bull did, they are quite voluminous. So, the overall game in terms of pure performance development, but also performance delivery to track, is to a higher level than I've ever seen before. These are the conversations we are having internally, and we need to make sure that at McLaren we can, if possible, out-develop and out-deliver our competitors, and this will allow us to close the gap."

Lando Norris, McLaren

When quizzed specifically about where McLaren's MCL40 is lacking, he said the Spielberg weekend didn't uncover anything the Woking squad wasn't already aware of, further exposing its general lack of aerodynamic load and efficiency. Stella also suggested his team is still trying to figure out how to get the same performance out of its Mercedes power units as the works team.

"Our gap to Mercedes has always been between three and four tenths," Stella explained. "It comes in the corners predominantly, probably 70% in the corners and 30% in the straights.

"In the corners, it's very clear why that is the case, it's the fact that their car generates more downforce than our car, and this is something that we are working on. The 30% happening in the straights might have to do with some additional aerodynamic drag that we have on our car, but we are also looking at the way we exploit the power unit, because the speed deficit is quite significant.

"Certainly, the power unit is the first [factor], and we are looking into why we are somehow in a position of deficit, but also you have the drag of your car, the straight mode efficiency. There's probably one and a half tenths, one tenth at least that we lose in the straights, and definitely we need to go and look into why that is the case."

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Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ended up second and third in Formula 1 Austrian GP qualifying, beaten only by George Russell, who set the fastest lap of the session at the very end despite passing through a yellow flag zone following Max Verstappen's crash.

Leclerc and Hamilton completed their final laps just before the Dutchman lost control of his Red Bull and hit the barriers at Turn 9 in the closing moments of qualifying. Had race control immediately deployed double yellow flags instead of single yellows, Ferrari could well have secured a front-row lockout.

Both Mercedes drivers were still on flying laps when they reached Turn 9 under single yellow conditions. While Kimi Antonelli aborted his lap, Russell only lifted before the braking zone, then resumed pushing after Turn 9 to complete his lap and secure pole position.

Although the FIA deemed Russell had slowed sufficiently to comply with the regulations, race control's decision not to deploy double yellow flags - or stop the session with a red flag - sparked debate in the paddock.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur believes it risks encouraging drivers to keep pushing in similar situations.

“First, I'm a bit surprised that they didn't put double yellow,” he told Sky Germany. “When you deploy the medical car, you can imagine that you need to have the double yellow… but it's another story.

“And George did a fantastic lap and nothing to do with the performance of George. And then there is a rule that you have to slow down by 5% in the mini sector and we don't have access to the data. I think that race control did it.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing crash

Vasseur stressed he has no issue with Russell's lap itself and trusts the FIA correctly judged that the Mercedes driver had complied with the yellow flag regulations.

“I trust them. If you are not able to trust the race control, it's a disaster,” he said. “If they took the decision of no further action, it's because they checked. The point is for me that I don't understand why we don't have a double yellow in this case.”

He believes the bigger issue is the message the incident sends to the rest of the field.

“I think the negative side of this is that next quali, if you have a crash, everybody will push,” he said.

Stella: Rules are working as intended

The rule automatically deleting qualifying lap times set under double yellow flags became part of Formula 1's sporting regulations in 2022. It followed several controversial incidents in which drivers kept their lap times despite passing through double yellow zones after the stewards judged they had slowed sufficiently. During 2021, under then race director Michael Masi, the FIA first introduced the automatic lap deletion through the event notes before making it a permanent regulation the following season.

Under single yellow flags, however, drivers may still keep their lap times provided they reduce speed sufficiently.

“I think because there is an option to go for double yellow flag, it's useful to retain the distinction between what you are allowed to do on a single yellow flag,” McLaren boss Andrea Stella said.

George Russell, Mercedes

“The double [yellow] itself and the deletion of the lap is a relatively recent change, and I think this [rule] is very welcome. Definitely any driver will have to be absolutely disincentivised to push in a section with a double yellow flag, but if there's a distinction between double and [single] yellow, eventually the stewards will have, or the marshals will have retained, or the race director will have deemed that this only requires the single yellow flag, therefore this is left to the judgement of the driver. And if the driver pushes too much, it will be penalised.

“So, I personally think that we are in a good situation from this point of view.”

Stella also believes Russell judged the situation perfectly from his side.

“For what I saw from the GPS overlays, I think Russell has done a good job of executing a lift,” he said. “I can only see that the speed reduces before braking, losing a little bit of time through corner 9, at the same time losing little enough to actually be in pole position.

“This, I think, is subject to the interpretation of the stewards as to the fact that this action complies with the requirements of a yellow flag, but there is action. And I think we have to recognise that while drivers are incredibly able and good in executing the standard driving, sometimes they are also good at executing some manoeuvres that may be required in yellow flag, may give you justification and a rationale that the stewards can interpret like they did.

“So I think it was a kind of a case on the edge, but no particular concern with the fact that this has been accepted by the stewards.”

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