‘They’ve been quite smart and innovative’ – Stella singles out ‘different’ design trend from McLaren rival

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella believes that teams are in “a very interesting phase” of design development after he spotted a change to Red Bull’s sidepods at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Woking-based team enjoyed their best round of the season so far in Miami, with Lando Norris securing victory in the Sprint before losing out to Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in the Grand Prix to finish second, while team mate Oscar Piastri finished P2 in the Sprint and third in the Grand Prix.

Their success was partly down to the major upgrade package they introduced with the objective of closing the gap to the Silver Arrows, but Stella was cautious to note that McLaren are not the only outfit eager to come out on top in the development race.

“I think for those who are technically interested, we are in a very interesting phase,” he said following the Miami Grand Prix. “It's a very interesting phase because if you see the sidepod concept that Red Bull introduced, that's quite different to the sidepod concept that, for instance, Mercedes and Ferrari have adopted.

“The McLaren style is further different and I think there will be a stabilisation at some stage, a convergence, but we look like we are quite far from this convergence. I think there will be a process of looking at each other, testing things. Certainly each team will be testing, taking a look at the Red Bull concept to see the advantages.”

In the hands of Max Verstappen, Red Bull's machine was McLaren’s main competition towards the end of their Championship-winning 2025 season, when Norris beat the Dutchman to the title by just two points.

However, the Milton Keynes squad have dropped back in the order under the new regulations, netting just 16 points in the first three rounds before their own upgrades enabled them to take a crucial step forward in Miami.

Alongside adjustments to the front wing, floor and brake ducts, new sidepods were added to the RB22 in the hope of adding aerodynamic stability at the rear of the car while improving the response of the front end.

Expanding on Red Bull’s alternative sidepod design, Stella added: “They've also been quite smart and innovative in the way they have used some legality concession to introduce such geometry. I think that the overall design of the car is far from converging.

“This doesn't mean that some things have already started to look like that's the direction that everyone is taking, but with the 2025 cars, after a few years of the regulation, they started to look very similar to each other. I think we are still far from these conditions.”