Stella dismisses Mercedes' budget excuse as McLaren pressure mounts: 'I don't believe you'

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has openly challenged Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff’s assertion that budget constraints are preventing the Silver Arrows from fast-tracking car upgrades, telling reporters after the Dutch Grand Prix: “I would like to believe you, but I actually don’t believe you.”

The remarks follow a sharp shift in the 2026 constructors’ standings. Ferrari and McLaren have each taken two wins in recent weeks after making significant aerodynamic improvements to their cars, piling pressure on a Mercedes team that had previously dominated the season. By contrast, Mercedes has introduced only a modest stream of aero updates, with a larger development package not expected until October’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

That timeline leaves Mercedes exposed across three consecutive rounds in Italy, Spain, and Azerbaijan before the upgrade arrives. Wolff acknowledged the situation after the Dutch Grand Prix, arguing his team’s spending was locked in by how Brackley had distributed its $215 million cost-cap allocation across the year. “We haven’t got the money to put developments on the car,” Wolff said, adding that rivals who have spent heavily early in the season may find themselves constrained later.

Stella, however, pointed to a specific provision in the cost-cap regulations that he believes undermines that argument. Changes to the 2027 power unit rules — which shift the energy split to 57 percent combustion and 43 percent electrical — come with an additional $3 million allowance that teams can apply to either their 2026 or 2027 reporting period to help fund the transition.

“All teams will have an allowance in their reporting for the cost cap,” Stella said. “And if I’m not wrong, it’s like three million that you can use in the 2026 reporting for cost cap calculations. I’m sure that Mercedes, having seen that their rivals are kind of elevating the game, I’m sure they will now cash in on their development that surely is happening in the ground.”

Stella also suggested the gap between Mercedes’ wind-tunnel performance and what is currently running on track is likely to be significant, implying the team has more in reserve than Wolff’s public comments indicate. “I’m sure the car in the wind tunnel is quite a bit faster than the car they have on track and they will want” to deploy it, he said.

The exchange marks a notable escalation in the public rivalry between the two teams as the championship enters its most congested stretch of the calendar.