2026 Monaco Grand Prix – McLaren Race Report

Circuit de Monaco, Sunday, 7 June

Find out what happened during the Monaco Grand Prix, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal, Andrea Stella

It was a Sunday of mixed fortunes at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix as the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team experienced the two halves of racing on the streets of the Principality.

After trying to mitigate the issues experienced with the power unit on the Number 4 car through adjustments on the steering wheel, the fault proved to be terminal, and the team were frustratingly forced to retire Lando Norris on Lap 45. Despite this disappointing experience, overall, this result will not have any wider implications for our power unit allocation, as the Monaco Grand Prix is the last race scheduled for this unit’s cycle.

Despite the low point seen midway through the race, there were positives to take away from Monte Carlo as McLaren Mastercard celebrated the team's 1000^th Grand Prix. Oscar delivered a clean and composed drive to maximise the MCL40’s package this afternoon and secure an important P4 finish, moving up three places to secure a good haul of points for the team.

Focus will now turn to Spain, as the final race of the opening European double-header in the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship takes place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. In the days between the two races, McLaren Mastercard will review the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, focusing on development to build competitiveness and reliability, keep pushing forward, and to close the gap on competitors ahead.

"When you make up three spots in Monaco, that's always a good day. Whilst I didn't do the overtaking myself, we did a good job of taking advantage of things playing out ahead of us and being smart with the strategy. Getting those 12 points was important.

"However, our pace wasn't very strong today, and we need to work out why we have struggled so much this weekend. Looking ahead to Barcelona and further on into the season, we have a lot of work to do to close the gap to the front-runners. Thanks to the team for their work, let's see what we can do next weekend."

"It wasn’t our weekend and, unfortunately, it’s another DNF for the team. We faced issues from Friday that had the team working until 4:00AM into Saturday to get the car back on track, only to encounter another problem in the race. It’s tough and frustrating for everyone because we’re putting in a huge effort to improve, but at the moment reliability is getting the better of us.

"We’ll keep our heads up and stay positive. We know the areas we need to address, and reliability is top of the list. The team deserves credit for their commitment, and we’ll keep working hard for them. I’m hopeful we can return to form in Barcelona, give ourselves something to be excited about, and show what we can do next time out."

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

"Today was, unfortunately, another race of two halves for the team. Frustratingly, Lando’s race ended in retirement on Lap 45. We identified an anomaly with the power unit that had not presented itself prior to the race. We attempted to manage it through mitigation steps and setting adjustments, which allowed us to keep the car out for a few more laps, but it ultimately proved to be a terminal issue.

"As we navigate this new generation of power units, there is naturally a learning curve. Our integration and collaboration with Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains is excellent, and we will work methodically together to resolve these emerging technical challenges. The positive takeaway is that this was likely the final scheduled race for this specific power unit, so we do not anticipate any major implications for Lando's season allocation moving forward.

"On the other side of the garage, Oscar drove an exceptionally precise and controlled race. He kept it clean, made almost no mistakes, and executed our plan perfectly. I also want to commend our strategy team for a brilliant call to pit under the Safety Car, which effectively cleared his penalty.

"Despite the positive operational and strategic decisions, we have to be honest with ourselves regarding our underlying pace. Today, Ferrari and Mercedes were operating in a completely different dimension. It is clear that McLaren has a significant amount of work to do back at the factory to make the car fundamentally faster and more reliable. We will review the weekend, focus on our development, and keep pushing forward.

“Luckily, we now head straight back to track in Barcelona next weekend. After Canada, it has been clear that our current package does not lend itself to circuits with the characteristics present there and in Monaco. As we head to Spain, we hope to find a circuit which better lends itself to the strengths of the MCL40, but remain realistic about the strength of the competition. The Spanish GP is another opportunity, and one we look forward to tackling head on.”