Andrea Stella is already keeping an eye on this weekend’s Chinese GP. The McLaren boss pointed out how and to what extent energy distribution will be essential for the second round of Formula 1 2026.
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Super clipping is a topic that drew a lot of attention, especially after the Australian GP qualifying. In Melbourne, drivers found themselves forced to lift off the throttle to save the battery from discharging completely, especially due to the limited braking zones available to recharge it.
So, in an interview with GPblog, the McLaren official believes that in Shanghai, the race should follow a more traditional direction and be less dependent on the battery of the new Formula 1 engines.
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“I think the fundamental points of attention still remain. If anything is affected by the circuit layout, as if we were going back to Bahrain, I would say it would be a race more similar to what we did before, because you drive the car in a more traditional way,” he said.
“You recover energy under braking, release it on the exit, while accelerating. Here, the driving is very different from the traditional way here in Australia, because you need to use the battery by lifting off the throttle, using superclipping, without pushing at high speed. So, here it is more of a gimmick from a driving and racing point of view. But the three points of attention are independent of the circuit,” he concluded.
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