Verstappen's Dutch GP hopes derailed by McLaren boss Stella

McLaren’s rivals may have to get used to the sight of orange at the front of the grid. The Woking team has taken four consecutive 1-2 finishes and insists its development pace means there is no reason to expect a slowdown anytime soon.

Team principal Andrea Stella told media including GPblog.com that McLaren’s progress in 2025 has been built not only on a strong baseline car but on continuous improvements throughout the campaign.

“I think we have seen a very positive trend in terms of our competitiveness,” Stella said.

“Especially, I would say, over the last events in which we have finished with a P1 and P2.”

Stella explained that McLaren’s success has come from an aggressive and 'sneaky' upgrade plan.

Stella reveals Mclaren's sneaky development programme 

“Like I said in some other interviews, this is not only because we started with a competitive car.

"But actually, we have upgraded the car since Canada with what was in the past a single instalment upgrade.

"It would be very noticeable: 'McLaren bring a new car, and improves by a few tenths of a second.'

"But in the recent races, we have upgraded the car with some parts at pretty much each race. So we have become faster.

"I think every single session [in Hungary] we were P1-P2 by a decent chunk compared to the next team.”

Stella sends stern warning to F1 rivals

With McLaren closing in on its first Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship double since 1998, Stella warned that there is more to come.

“This makes us very positive about the remainder of the season,” he added.

“We look forward to starting racing again after the shutdown. I think we have some tracks that will be favourable to us again, like Zandvoort.

"We have also done some specific work for some tracks like Monza or Vegas, in which last year, we were not necessarily dominant.

"We knew that we needed to do some work for the performance at those tracks.

"So we definitely look forward to the second part of the season, and we expect to be competitive," he concluded.

Read also

Montoya opens fire on Ferrari over Hamilton situation with fierce accusation

Is Ferrari to blame, then? 'Hamilton's driving style has worked for years'

Villeneuve backs Alonso's 'retaliation': 'He had no other choice'

Russell's 'illegal Ferrari' claim gets put in the bin as 'dramatic'