Andrea Stella: F1 2026 reliability fears 'vanished' in Barcelona shakedown

McLaren Racing team principal Andrea Stella revealed that many of the fears the teams had going into the Barcelona shakedown vanished fairly quickly.

All teams, apart from Williams, took part in private testing from 26-30 January ahead of the 2026 season, which welcomes a new set of regulations. While some teams went into the shakedown week with reservations about reliability, any concerns were quickly alleviated.

"In general, I think the teams have shown a high level of preparation for the debut of the new generation of cars," the team chief said in an interview released by McLaren.

"Those who feared a repeat of what happened 12 years ago at the debut of the hybrid power units saw their fears vanish fairly quickly. In terms of the power unit, we saw that even those who brought the engine to the track for the first time managed to accumulate a good number of kilometres."

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: McLaren

He continued: "Rather, the reliability issues that slowed down the work on the track, at least as far as we are concerned, were mainly related to the enormous complexity of the 2026 car system, and I would like to applaud our team who worked with extraordinary commitment, day and night, to allow us to almost completely make up for the time lost at the beginning.

"It was a bit like going back a few years, when the very first winter tests regularly went on into the small hours, but I am sure that as the teams get to know the cars better, everything will return to normal."

McLaren will unveil its 2026 Formula 1 livery in Bahrain on Monday 9 February, before pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit on 11-13 February and again on 18-20 February. The season will start with the Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March.