2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[CjC]

Norris is struggling today

He had damage in first two parts of quali, front break duct flew off. They fixed it for SQ3 and boom.

Btw so frustrating to end up P6 and P7 with these minimal gaps to P3.

Thanks, I didn’t know that, just following the times so didn’t have the full picture.
He seemed to be struggling in practice as well.
All good now- apart from being so close yet so far as you say

[FittingMechanics]

Norris is struggling today

He had damage in first two parts of quali, front break duct flew off. They fixed it for SQ3 and boom.

Btw so frustrating to end up P6 and P7 with these minimal gaps to P3.

Thanks, I didn’t know that, just following the times so didn’t have the full picture.
He seemed to be struggling in practice as well.
All good now- apart from being so close yet so far as you say

Yeah. If all what we are hearing is true this is quite good. Weaker spec engine, big upgrades coming, car looked bad in FP1, etc.

Lets have a good race and we'll see in the next races where we stand.

[SilviuAgo]

Norris is struggling today

He had damage in first two parts of quali, front break duct flew off. They fixed it for SQ3 and boom.

Btw so frustrating to end up P6 and P7 with these minimal gaps to P3.

Zak talked to the F1TV guys during the sprint quali and he once again mentioned new upgrades in following races, he is really hyping them up. Sounds like they expect a lot. Very encouraging if it works!

Could have been P3 and P4. McLaren is not so far away as expected. maybe this is also the reason Andrea and Zak are so confident that the upgrades coming will allow McLaren to fight for wins.

[Balalu]

It's been so close yet so far all year, till now. That is how I have been summarising us all year.

[mwillems]

Yes the gaps this year are not huge for this stage of a formula. The results are decisive, for sure, but the gaps are anything but insurmountable.

If Zak thinks we can fight for wins, then not only is the upgrade capable of closing that gap, but he will have said this knowing teams are bringing upgrades themselves. So it is a very bold prediction to be winning again.

I wonder if it simply means we will have a car at one or two tracks where it will now be the fastest car, based on what they think the strengths will be, rather than being outright faster than other cars as a package,

[venkyhere]

Whats the media story doing the rounds about Norris' car requiring nose cone change in the middle of SQ because of brake duct damage ? Not able to understand how the two are related.

[CjC]

Whats the media story doing the rounds about Norris' car requiring nose cone change in the middle of SQ because of brake duct damage ? Not able to understand how the two are related.

From what I saw on the live feed, they took the front wing and off to give themselves room to fix the front break duct which makes sense. If the same front wing and nose went back on as an un-damaged part- I don’t know

[Emag]

Is Miami the only race weekend that has been problem free for Norris this year?

[SilviuAgo]

Is Miami the only race weekend that has been problem free for Norris this year?

Not even. This is the list I found until Austria (and there not to forget the McLaren mechanics worked on the grid before race start to fix the long braking pedal). So not even one trouble free weekend for Lando (considering also the yesterday Sprint quali fixing).

[Mcl_G10]

What on earth is going on with deployment?
Were setup completely different to merc and just yoyo-ing with them on different straights

[Xero]

Incredible launches off the line by both drivers. As expected, this track will be yoyo overtaking. Settled now, and Lando safe in 3rd.

[Xero]

The 1 second overtake boost is super powerful!

[jacme22]

Norris tyres are dead.

edit: good third. But worrying the last 3-4 laps. We dropped like a rock. Oscar with issues as well with pace.

Merc is so ahead in downforce, drag and tyre management that is embarrassing for the rest.

[geogate]

he had to fuel save