McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has called for three rule changes ahead of the F1 season opener in Australia on March 8.
The second of three F1 pre-season tests took place in Bahrain last week, with the final test scheduled to take place at the Sakhir Circuit this week (February 18-20), two weeks before the first race of the 2026 season.
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Aggressive new engine and chassis regulations could shake up the pecking order, but early testing has raised some concerns, something Stella highlighted to the media last week.
Two of these involved safety measures regarding the possibility of collisions at the start of the race and on the grid, and the controversial “lift and slide” procedure at the end of the straight, which could also lead to high-speed collisions.
Stella’s third rule change proposal involves a new “overtaking mode” that will replace DRS this season, with the concept being that it is not powerful enough to create overtaking opportunities during races. Talking about the above issues, Stella said: “I think it is imperative [changes are made] Because it’s possible and it’s easy.
“So we shouldn’t complicate simple things and we shouldn’t delay things that are immediately possible. So I think that’s something we should definitely get ahead of Australia.”
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Several cars struggled to get off the line at the start of practice at the end of last week’s testing. The new engine needs to be revved up to build up turbocharger pressure and minimize turbo lag, causing some drivers to rev up for more than ten seconds.
The current starting procedure is for five red lights to flash at one-second intervals and then all five red lights to disappear, which may not provide enough time for drivers at the back of the grid to prepare for the turbo boost in time.
Stella elaborated: “We need to make sure that the race start procedure allows all cars to have their power units ready because the grid is not a place where you want the cars to take off slowly.
“That’s more important than any competing interests. I think all teams and the FIA ​​should take responsibility in terms of race start procedures. I’m looking at timing, for example, red light times, pre-red light times.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella wants three rule changes (Getty Images)
“They need to be in the right position to make sure that first and foremost this is a safe phase in the way we play.”
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Speaking of the “lift and coast” issue, where drivers want to take their foot off the accelerator to charge the battery, Stella also sees this as a safety issue.
“There may be a car following another car and the car in front may want to lift up to harvest [energy],” he said. “When you pay close attention, it’s probably not an ideal situation and that could lead to some race situations like we’ve seen before [high speed crashes] While in Valencia, [Riccardo] Portugal’s Patrese and a few others are definitely people we don’t want to see in Formula 1 anymore. “
As for the “overtaking mode”, Stella was worried that there wouldn’t be enough energy to use it effectively, which eliminated a key overtaking device.
The Italian engineer elaborated: “I think, unlike in the past, where we had DRS, which created such an advantage for the car behind from an aerodynamic drag point of view, this year, when you follow someone, you have the same drag and the same power, so overtaking becomes quite difficult.
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“Throughout these three days of testing in Bahrain, our drivers have been racing against other drivers who have found overtaking extremely difficult. The fact that when you are following and within a second, you generate extra energy, which is difficult to exploit because this extra energy may mean there is more deployment at the end of the straight, if at all.
Lando Norris testing McLaren’s 2026 F1 car in Bahrain (Getty Images)
“So I think again, as an F1 community, we should be thinking about what measures are in place to ensure that we have reasonable feasibility when it comes to overtaking. Otherwise, we lose one of the fundamental elements of the nature of racing, which is to provide drivers with the possibility of overtaking.”
Stella is keen to stress that his advice is not for McLaren’s competitiveness, but for the overall health of the sport as Melbourne embarks on a new era.
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“We’re not talking about how fast you are in qualifying,” he added. “We’re not talking about your race pace. We’re talking about safety on the grid.
“Like I said before, there are some topics that have greater benefits than competition. To me, it’s a no-brainer that grid security can be achieved with simple adjustments. It’s just a greater benefit.”
These topics will be the focus of discussion between the FIA ​​and the teams at an F1 committee meeting on Wednesday, which will be held to coincide with the final pre-season test in Bahrain.
