2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[pronopheus]

"RedBull pushed sidepod packaging to the extreme. The only team (together with Audi) with a visible crash structure on the side."

I guess, both have more sidepod volume, Audi for sure a lot. Just to see the sis means nothing at all.

[FittingMechanics]

Andrea Stella, team principal: "In terms of understanding the competitive order I would say that this test has confirmed that Ferrari and Mercedes look like the teams to beat. I think McLaren is not far. I think it's good to see that we are part of the top four group but I think these two teams seem to have shown a little bit of an advantage."

[CjC]

Honestly I’d take that. Mclaren aren’t a works team so that’s going to be a slight hinderance initially, also due to being so successful recently they have had the least amount of ATR allowance too whilst still winning 3 of the last 4 championships on offer.

If they can keep up their recent, highly successful car development they will be serious contenders again this season.

And the car is going on weight watchers for Melbourne, so like every top team- there is reason to be optimistic this season

[the EDGE]

I mean, what does it have except for being tightly packaged? RedBull has that and more.

Excluding Ferraris novelties... What unique ideas do the other three teams have?

- RedBull pushed sidepod packaging to the extreme. The only team (together with Audi) with a visible crash structure on the side. Sidepod extends forwards and connects with the floor edge where the floor edge itself is separated into two parts, where a small bit is used as a "normal" floor edge entry, and the rest of what is the conventional floor edge entry for other teams is being used as a mini-bargeboard. The diffuser in general is also interesting at RedBull and they obviously have an aggressive implementation of the diffuser cut.

- Mercedes doesn't have as many on-the-surface innovations I admit, but there's still certain things they do different to others. They are the only ones together with Aston Martin who have a lesser-loaded front wing connected to the second flap and not the first. The fact that it's less upwashing/outboard loaded is more interesting to me though. Other than that, they did bring a tighter bodywork this second test and they also feature the diffuser hole. I also count the PU as a Mercedes innovation. It's probably a gray area with the rules, but they pushed boundaries in a certain area to gain advantage over their competitors. If McLaren were making their own engines like the other 3, we don't know where in the spectrum between Honda and Mercedes they would fall to right now.

- Ferrari is rather obvious. It's fairly standard at the frontend, but they have so much going on at the rear, it's pointless to list them now as it's rather fresh news.

Perhaps McLaren focus on parts of the car that deliver performance, instead of getting distracted by flashy ideas.

[AR3-GP]

I know eye aero is bullsh*t and everything, but honestly I am really surprised how McLaren can seemingly do so well while having a car so bare of any unique surface aerodynamic solutions. The car is just a really really basic concept that has been executed quite well. You look at Ferrari, RedBull and Mercedes, they all have unique ideas that their chassis plays around with. Things that really catch your eye and attention with clever interpretations.

And here goes McLaren. Standard downwashing sidepods. Conventional diffuser. A leading floor edge that looks even simpler than some midfield teams, let alone compared to the other top teams. Visually speaking, it makes no sense for this car to keep up with the other 3.

Didn’t you have similar opinion of the MCL39 as well?

I did. I stand by my judgement. There wasn't much going on visually with that car except from the front suspension. I never claimed looks=performance though, I am just making an observation.

I'm detecting a pattern...

[AR3-GP]

Just for me personally, these things you listed are not as "eye-catching" or things that makes you go "aha, that's clever". And I am personally heavily biased for cars which exhibit those types of details (again, based on my own perception, which could be totally different to someone else's).

I think the Audi is eye-catching but it's not that quick.

[Macklaren]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

[the EDGE]

Just for me personally, these things you listed are not as "eye-catching" or things that makes you go "aha, that's clever". And I am personally heavily biased for cars which exhibit those types of details (again, based on my own perception, which could be totally different to someone else's).

I think the Audi is eye-catching.

Eye catching? yes, for the right reasons?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence the tops teams have prioritised maximising clean airflow over the diffuser, over outwash, it’s the tried and tested method for this type of floor, whereas there is clearly only so much outwash required

My opinion, and I stand to be corrected, is Audi have followed a wrong development path

[AR3-GP]

Just for me personally, these things you listed are not as "eye-catching" or things that makes you go "aha, that's clever". And I am personally heavily biased for cars which exhibit those types of details (again, based on my own perception, which could be totally different to someone else's).

I think the Audi is eye-catching.

Eye catching? yes, for the right reasons?

That was my point to Emag. You can be eye-catching and slow.

[the EDGE]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

The Race have stated this too, on their pod cast

[AR3-GP]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

The Race have stated this too, on their pod cast

Mercedes had 2 PU failures this week. Maybe this is connected.

[De Wet]

I know eye aero is bullsh*t and everything, but honestly I am really surprised how McLaren can seemingly do so well while having a car so bare of any unique surface aerodynamic solutions. The car is just a really really basic concept that has been executed quite well. You look at Ferrari, RedBull and Mercedes, they all have unique ideas that their chassis plays around with. Things that really catch your eye and attention with clever interpretations.

And here goes McLaren. Standard downwashing sidepods. Conventional diffuser. A leading floor edge that looks even simpler than some midfield teams, let alone compared to the other top teams. Visually speaking, it makes no sense for this car to keep up with the other 3.

Looks can be deceiving... It's how the package works together Front to Rear.

[Balalu]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

Even Ferrari said they are using a test engine for these tests, and will bring the latest spec to Australia.

But If Mercedes used the latest spec and McLaren did not, than it bodes well for McLaren compared to Mercedes (assuming Mercedes did not run detuned compared to McLaren).

[upsidedowntoast]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

Is this really a "more powerful" spec or just the spec modified to handle the compression ratio brouhaha come August

[f1Follower]

https://x.com/i/status/2024990488290377753

This is interesting esp since Alpine confirmed it

Mercedes faced issues with their runs quite amount of time in 2nd week of testing in Bahrain.