Stella details the two technical factors behind McLaren's Monaco struggles

McLaren endured a difficult afternoon in Monaco, with Piastri and Norris qualifying only seventh and eighth respectively. Despite the MCL40 showing flashes of front-running pace at various points throughout the weekend, neither driver was able to sustain that competitiveness when it mattered most, ultimately slipping back.

Explaining the reasons behind McLaren's struggles, Stella revealed that the team had anticipated a challenging weekend in Monaco due to two specific technical weaknesses. The first relates to the overall grip and aerodynamic load generated by the car, an area McLaren is already targeting for improvement. The second concerns the MCL40's tendency to be particularly gentle on its tyres, a characteristic that can become a disadvantage at circuits where quickly generating temperature and energy in the rubber is crucial to extracting maximum performance.

Stella went on to explain that tyre preparation proved particularly challenging throughout qualifying, with McLaren needing to follow a very specific approach on the out lap in an effort to bring the tyres into the correct operating window. Even then, the team noticed it was consistently losing time during the opening phase of the lap compared to some of its rivals.

The reigning world champion and defending Monaco Grand Prix winner will line up only eighth on the grid for Sunday's race, a result that Norris admitted was broadly in line with the concerns he had heading into the weekend. Speaking to GPblog among other media, the Briton explained that the difficulties experienced in Monaco were not entirely unexpected, particularly after the challenges McLaren had already faced in Montreal despite a surprisingly competitive result there.

Norris pointed to fundamental limitations with the MCL40, describing the car as difficult to drive and lacking the compliance and forgiveness needed to attack Monaco's unforgiving street circuit with complete confidence. While he still feels comfortable behind the wheel, he acknowledged that his confidence level is not where it was twelve months ago, a significant factor around a track where drivers need absolute trust in their machinery to extract the final tenths.

Looking at the qualifying session itself, Norris believes the team was losing performance throughout the lap rather than in any specific section of the circuit. In his view, the core issue remains a lack of overall grip and aerodynamic load, with balance also playing a role but not being the primary limitation. He suggested that the deficit was spread across the entire lap rather than concentrated in one area.