I think Marshall’s expertise is car dynamics, he understands what it takes to make a top tier race car. I think the carry-over will be the suspension kinematics. He and Pete Prod seem to work very well together, combined, I believe is as close to Newey as you can get, maybe betterEmag wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 13:34No idea what to expect from McLaren. The current group of technical directors have only really worked together for one year. The MCL39 was ingenious, but one could argue that it was the last year of the regulations and not much had to be "discovered". Will definitely be intriguing to see how they fare on a completely new regulation set where they have to come up with every idea themselves.
Of course, 2022 was a fumble, but it's unfair to make the comparison because McLaren of 2021 is almost not even the same team compared to McLaren of 2025.
In any case, I expect at least mechanically, there should be some carry-over from the MCL39, as confirmed by Stella. I would suspect this is related to whatever they found in terms of cooling. Other than that, aerodynamically speaking, somehow I don't expect some "flashy" concept from this current McLaren team. I would expect McLaren's car to perhaps look a bit more "vanilla" in comparison to Ferrari and Mercedes for example, however looks hardly matters if the car performs. I thought MCL38 and MCL39 looked rather bland too, but hey, they won 3 titles between them.
Rob Marshall is an amazing asset to have though. I would expect him to come up with some clever mechanical solution somewhere deep inside the car. In any case, if they do come up with something smart, McLaren is one of those teams that I expect to have it as a "hidden" feature rather than a striking "on-the-surface" feature.
The team stated at the start of 25 that theyd specifically focussed on areas that can carry over to the 26 car, including the suspension.the EDGE wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 14:03I think Marshall’s expertise is car dynamics, he understands what it takes to make a top tier race car. I think the carry-over will be the suspension kinematics. He and Pete Prod seem to work very well together, combined, I believe is as close to Newey as you can get, maybe betterEmag wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 13:34No idea what to expect from McLaren. The current group of technical directors have only really worked together for one year. The MCL39 was ingenious, but one could argue that it was the last year of the regulations and not much had to be "discovered". Will definitely be intriguing to see how they fare on a completely new regulation set where they have to come up with every idea themselves.
Of course, 2022 was a fumble, but it's unfair to make the comparison because McLaren of 2021 is almost not even the same team compared to McLaren of 2025.
In any case, I expect at least mechanically, there should be some carry-over from the MCL39, as confirmed by Stella. I would suspect this is related to whatever they found in terms of cooling. Other than that, aerodynamically speaking, somehow I don't expect some "flashy" concept from this current McLaren team. I would expect McLaren's car to perhaps look a bit more "vanilla" in comparison to Ferrari and Mercedes for example, however looks hardly matters if the car performs. I thought MCL38 and MCL39 looked rather bland too, but hey, they won 3 titles between them.
Rob Marshall is an amazing asset to have though. I would expect him to come up with some clever mechanical solution somewhere deep inside the car. In any case, if they do come up with something smart, McLaren is one of those teams that I expect to have it as a "hidden" feature rather than a striking "on-the-surface" feature.
In terms of chassis/suspension, I expect some semblance of the rake we saw before the ground effect era. Otherwise, I have no other ideas yet. I haven't even thought about it yet.Emag wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 13:34No idea what to expect from McLaren. The current group of technical directors have only really worked together for one year. The MCL39 was ingenious, but one could argue that it was the last year of the regulations and not much had to be "discovered". Will definitely be intriguing to see how they fare on a completely new regulation set where they have to come up with every idea themselves.
Of course, 2022 was a fumble, but it's unfair to make the comparison because McLaren of 2021 is almost not even the same team compared to McLaren of 2025.
In any case, I expect at least mechanically, there should be some carry-over from the MCL39, as confirmed by Stella. I would suspect this is related to whatever they found in terms of cooling. Other than that, aerodynamically speaking, somehow I don't expect some "flashy" concept from this current McLaren team. I would expect McLaren's car to perhaps look a bit more "vanilla" in comparison to Ferrari and Mercedes for example, however looks hardly matters if the car performs. I thought MCL38 and MCL39 looked rather bland too, but hey, they won 3 titles between them.
Rob Marshall is an amazing asset to have though. I would expect him to come up with some clever mechanical solution somewhere deep inside the car. In any case, if they do come up with something smart, McLaren is one of those teams that I expect to have it as a "hidden" feature rather than a striking "on-the-surface" feature.
Hello, hello! No spoilers, just wings.Darth-Piekus wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 00:14Hello there LionsHeart. We haven't seen you for some time. Got any spoilers for us?
Perhaps we'll see it in a couple of months. It's a shame the first tests planned for Barcelona, Spain, will be held behind closed doors. But remembering the days when fans would sneak onto the track and take photos and videos from the grandstands in 240p and 360p, we might see something. Although I've already gotten used to the fact that for me, the new season begins with all-day monitoring of tests, times, tire compounds, and so on. But we'll have to wait until Bahrain. 
I'm not at liberty to reveal dates, but some teams have their shakedown tests booked at Silverstone in the second half of January. I can't remember whether McLaren was among them though.LionsHeart wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 14:50Hello, hello! No spoilers, just wings.Darth-Piekus wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 00:14Hello there LionsHeart. We haven't seen you for some time. Got any spoilers for us?
I've only seen renderings. They look good. The overall design is reminiscent of cars from the mid-2000s. And for me, that's a classic F1 chassis design. Like others, I'm sure I don't know what to expect. That's what's so exciting about a new cycle, a new era. All my wishes for the 2025 season have been completely fulfilled; I haven't been disappointed. Let the new season begin with the same fighting spirit. The team has a very strong engineering team of engineers, aerodynamicists, designers, people who work in the wind tunnel, simulator, and the CFD, as well as those who work in the production department.
It would be unfair for me to name only the drivers and team management. When you see the mechanics at work during pit stops, or while working on setups, or while rebuilding the chassis after breakdowns, you see how many wonderful people work at the factory, without whom we couldn't have achieved the last two constructors' titles and Lando's first.
It's possible that most teams will only present the basic chassis concept at their presentations, as was the case in the previous era when mockups were used. Back then, the team would only display the car's livery, drivers, and team representatives. McLaren was usually the exception, unafraid to unveil the new car, but often obscured interesting areas with a dark background, sometimes using shadows or Photoshop.
I really hope that the intensity of wheel-to-wheel combat and overtaking will reach a new level. And many questions about reliability will persist through at least 2026.
Honestly, I'd already forgotten that there are also filming days, where teams test their chassis for the first time. It's true that some footage could be gleaned from there. But it's unlikely the team will show anything interesting, as they'll try to keep it from the opposing teams for as long as possible.WardenOfTheNorth wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 17:17I'm not at liberty to reveal dates, but some teams have their shakedown tests booked at Silverstone in the second half of January. I can't remember whether McLaren was among them though.LionsHeart wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 14:50Hello, hello! No spoilers, just wings.Darth-Piekus wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 00:14Hello there LionsHeart. We haven't seen you for some time. Got any spoilers for us?
I've only seen renderings. They look good. The overall design is reminiscent of cars from the mid-2000s. And for me, that's a classic F1 chassis design. Like others, I'm sure I don't know what to expect. That's what's so exciting about a new cycle, a new era. All my wishes for the 2025 season have been completely fulfilled; I haven't been disappointed. Let the new season begin with the same fighting spirit. The team has a very strong engineering team of engineers, aerodynamicists, designers, people who work in the wind tunnel, simulator, and the CFD, as well as those who work in the production department.
It would be unfair for me to name only the drivers and team management. When you see the mechanics at work during pit stops, or while working on setups, or while rebuilding the chassis after breakdowns, you see how many wonderful people work at the factory, without whom we couldn't have achieved the last two constructors' titles and Lando's first.
It's possible that most teams will only present the basic chassis concept at their presentations, as was the case in the previous era when mockups were used. Back then, the team would only display the car's livery, drivers, and team representatives. McLaren was usually the exception, unafraid to unveil the new car, but often obscured interesting areas with a dark background, sometimes using shadows or Photoshop.
I really hope that the intensity of wheel-to-wheel combat and overtaking will reach a new level. And many questions about reliability will persist through at least 2026.
Depending on which circuit configuration they're running on, the cars could be seen from the Museum.
Though that makes me suspect they'll go for the International Circuit to reduce the chances of being seen as I don't believe the Retail Driving Experience days on Stowe are running again yet.
