McLaren respond to F1 stand-off after powerful Max Verstappen remarks

Andrea Stella has implored the power unit providers believed to be holding up amendments to the F1 regulations for the 2027 season to reconsider their position.

The McLaren team principal insists that the proposed 60/40 switch, as opposed to the current 50/50 split in internal combustion and electrical power, will make the championship better — and prevent "everyone" from losing.

Whilst the changes put forward by the FIA at first looked like they would be ratified without issue, Ferrari and Audi are now believed to be in opposition to Mercedes HPP, Red Bull Powertrains and Honda.

To pass without issue at the Power Unit Advisory Committee, a super majority of power unit manufacturers — which is four out of five — plus the FIA and F1 must all vote in favour.

Over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, the subject became a key talking point, and Max Verstappen expressed his concern at a potential hold-up, saying that F1 without adoption of the proposal was "mentally not doable" for him.

When speaking to media, including RacingNews365, those comments were put to Stella, who was asked for his take on the situation.

"While we are getting used to this Formula 1, and while we have made some steps forward with adjustments of the current hardware, and possibly we can make further adjustments for 2026, in my view, a change of the hardware is needed," the Italian said.

"A change of the hardware, which we can summarise in this 60/40 [split], in reality, is something slightly more complicated than that, but the proposal that was put forward by the FIA — which looks at increasing the ICE [internal combustion engine] power through the fuel flow, looks at redistributing the electrical power in harvesting in deployment, the battery capacity — is all part of a very important package that will make Formula 1 better.

"And this is a general interest that should prevail over the particular interests, because if we don't have a good sport, if we don't preserve the value of the business, the value of Formula 1, everyone will lose."

Stella underlined his stance that altering the division between the power units' two main components will help fix some of the problems experienced in the opening rounds of the latest era of F1, which have faced heavy scrutiny and been widely derided by the drivers.

The 54-year-old added: "I do hope that the ongoing conversation will lead to a successful position [and that] there will be an agreement, which will make this 60/40 [split] — but, like I say, is likely more complicated than that — a reality, because this will finally overcome some of the limitations that are fundamentally inherent to the current hardware that we are using at the moment...

"So, I think this is something that we want to cure, and we have a possibility to do it in 2027."