After a double podium in Miami sparked optimism, McLaren’s weekend in Canada unraveled when the team started on intermediate tyres and Lando Norris retired with a gearbox failure. Monaco delivered another DNF for the team’s reigning world champion, this time caused by a power‑unit fault. Both retirements highlighted lingering reliability gaps as the 2026 season progresses and underline the urgency.

Team principal Andrea Stella told Autosport that being a Mercedes customer now puts McLaren on the back foot. He said the disadvantage stems not from lower priority but from fewer integration opportunities, limited joint testing and delayed chassis‑power‑unit coordination. In the era of sweeping 2026 technical changes, those gaps translate directly into the reliability problems the team is currently fighting.

McLaren is already launching a broad review of meetings, data‑sharing and factory‑track processes to close the gap, Stella explained. CEO Zak Brown has hinted the team could eventually develop its own power unit if cost‑effective, mirroring Red Bull’s path. For now, the partnership with Mercedes remains strong, but the immediate task is to tighten reliability before the next race weekend.