2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

And it is not just a phrase of circumstance. In recent years, the Woking-based team has shown time and again that it can make up ground once it has found the right path. It happened in 2023, it happened again in 2024 and Budapest suggests that the MCL40 has also finally found a technical platform on which to build subsequent developments. "Some components arrived on Friday evening to be installed on Oscar's car on Saturday morning. It was really a race against time and I want to congratulate the whole team for being able to bring these updates to the track." The improvement, however, does not only concern aerodynamics, but also from a renewed use of the Mercedes Power Unit. Being a customer team in today's Formula 1 inevitably means not having the same level of knowledge as the factory team. Stella himself had explained in recent races how McLaren did not yet have the simulation tools necessary to fully extract the potential of the Mercedes engine, especially in energy management.

Budapest seems to have represented a turning point in this respect as well. "When I thanked the team for the updates I forgot to thank HPP. Here at the Hungaroring, McLaren and Mercedes HPP did the best job of the season in exploiting every single thousandth of the power unit. Pole came by just twelve thousandths and this shows how much there was still to find". But that's not all. The behaviour of the car with the tyres also seems to have changed, an aspect on which the team has been working since the beginning of the season. "I hope that some of the work done with these updates has also improved the interaction with the tyres. It's something we've been focusing on since the beginning of the year and I think we're starting to see the first results, especially in terms of race pace. There is still work to be done, especially in cold races, but in hot conditions these improvements seem to have been effective."

https://autoracer.it/mclaren-ecco-perch ... -in-corsa/


Not only aero upgrades, but Mclaren have finally reached maturity on the PU exploitation.

[AR3-GP]

Mclaren will have the most updates in the 2nd half

"If we want to be able to fight consistently for victories, we have to continue to focus on the updates. We are not naïve, we know that everyone else will too. It will be a race for developments until the last race. The good news is that McLaren is back in this race for updates as it fights for the top positions."

https://autoracer.it/mclaren-ecco-perch ... -in-corsa/

They are going to be the fastest car at the end of the year. The trajectory supports it.

[SmallSoldier]

Don’t really understand the position of some in regards to the lead driver… The lead driver should always take priority in the pit stop strategy, regardless of how, if they are leading they earned that right… Swapping places should only happen if the win is seriously at risk, but in Hungary that wasn’t really the case (at least while Piastri was in the lead)….

After the 1st pit stops, Norris came out 1 second in front of Verstappen. Considering the slow pit stop that Mclaren had in Spa, Mclaren could have easily lost the race because they refused to allow Norris to open a gap in the first stint.

When you have a pace advantage, as a team, you have to exploit it because you never know what can happen later on where you needed that extra time. If Lando's stop was 1 second slower, Mclaren wouldn't have won. Even without that stop, Piastri's lack of pace kept Antonelli as a VSC threat.

Maybe Mclaren was simply burned out from all the controversy in Hungary in 2024 and 2025 that they would have rather lost the race this time.

After the 1st Pit Stop, Norris wasn’t in the lead… The win wasn’t in jeopardy… Was a P2 for Norris in Jeopardy? Very slightly, Norris Pits 3 laps after Verstappen and even with the slow Pit Stop he keeps position.

They had a Pace Advantage, both of them even when Piastri was slower than Norris, in the first stint both drivers pull away from Verstappen and Piastri was banking fast laps consecutively… There was no sporting reason to make them swap places, not for the lead.

The Team’s don’t have the luxury of knowing the outcome of the GP when they are making the calls… At the point of the race when the calls were made, they were driving a P1-P2 for McLaren which most probably would have happened without Piastri’s retirement.

[SmallSoldier]

Don’t really understand the position of some in regards to the lead driver… The lead driver should always take priority in the pit stop strategy, regardless of how, if they are leading they earned that right… Swapping places should only happen if the win is seriously at risk, but in Hungary that wasn’t really the case (at least while Piastri was in the lead)…. But once the lead driver has taken the priority in the strategy (most often than not to pit first), the driver behind should have freedom to react to that strategy (going long like Lando did last year and to an extent this year too).

A lot of bashing towards the team maintaining parity on the drivers on these type of situations, but that parity is what has enabled the Team to outscore rivals… Some Teams like Red Bull will put all of their effort behind one driver, that not always provide the best result for the Team… Having 2 drivers that are motivated will create more opportunities for higher scoring in each GP (one of the reasons McLaren won the WCC in 2024, 2 drivers going after the best result possible), at some point in time, been considered and treated as a number 2 driver and the decisions that come from that has to take a toll on driver’s confidence and motivation and this translates into lap time.

That's all well and good, the problem is that they haven't done a good enough job of maximising the points haul of the team lately. Like in Belgium. And in Hungary Hamilton was closing in on Piastri before his gearbox failed. Had the gearbox not failed, or had Piastri got his wish that Norris be kept behind, then there's a very real possibility neither McLaren driver would even be on the podium.

That’s a lot of if’s… By the time that Hamilton was closing on Piastri, Norris was already ahead and pulling away… The win at that time wasn’t in jeopardy because of the calls.

It’s interesting that instead of celebrating the first McLaren win in this new set of regulations the forum has decided to become an extension of social media and debate who Stella winks for the most… The Team got the job done, they secured the win and in this case the fastest driver made it happen, but there was no reason to make them swap places when both of them were pulling away from the rest.

[FittingMechanics]

Don’t really understand the position of some in regards to the lead driver… The lead driver should always take priority in the pit stop strategy, regardless of how, if they are leading they earned that right… Swapping places should only happen if the win is seriously at risk, but in Hungary that wasn’t really the case (at least while Piastri was in the lead)….

After the 1st pit stops, Norris came out 1 second in front of Verstappen. Considering the slow pit stop that Mclaren had in Spa, Mclaren could have easily lost the race because they refused to allow Norris to open a gap in the first stint.

When you have a pace advantage, as a team, you have to exploit it because you never know what can happen later on where you needed that extra time. If Lando's stop was 1 second slower, Mclaren wouldn't have won. Even without that stop, Piastri's lack of pace kept Antonelli as a VSC threat.

Maybe Mclaren was simply burned out from all the controversy in Hungary in 2024 and 2025 that they would have rather lost the race this time.

Would Red Bull swap Hadjar and Verstappen around if Hadjar looked to be faster (driving 0.7s behind)? I doubt that very much. Or would Mercedes swap Antonelli and Russell?

I understand your logic and I agree with it, but these things are much harder to do in reality because both drivers are human beings and all the baggage that comes with it (mental, legal, etc).

[LionsHeart]

and it's not a given that in the second half of the season there will be another track like this that suits the McLaren car and Lando personally just as well.

Isn't it the exact opposite? This is a downforce track and was not suited to the strengths of the MCL40. Ferrari was expected to dominate here. Makes this result particularly encouraging

Well, the team brought a suite of upgrades here. So the new features worked, and downforce increased. As for your comment, I was just basing it on Lando's own thoughts. Yes, earlier this year the chassis was weak in the corners. And like you, I wasn't initially confident of success. But the upgrades helped compensate. Also, the high air and asphalt temperatures played into the McLaren's hands. Others kept quiet about this, but in the race, the air temperature was 31 degrees Celsius and the asphalt over 50 degrees Celsius. In first practice, I think the air temperature was 23 degrees Celsius.

[billamend]

It’s interesting that instead of celebrating the first McLaren win in this new set of regulations the forum has decided to become an extension of social media and debate who Stella winks for the most…

If Stella (and the team by extension) didn't make it so painfully obvious, none of this would be a topic.

People need to remember that Andrea Stella did the exact same thing for Lando during his struggles last year.

As he should. And he should do the same for Piastri now. That is not the issue _at all_.

And it's quite obvious why Piastri struggles with this regulation: he can't handle slippery / low grip conditions. He is an incredible driver in high speed, high grip conditions, which this formula does not have.

[trinidefender]

Mclaren will have the most updates in the 2nd half

"If we want to be able to fight consistently for victories, we have to continue to focus on the updates. We are not naïve, we know that everyone else will too. It will be a race for developments until the last race. The good news is that McLaren is back in this race for updates as it fights for the top positions."

https://autoracer.it/mclaren-ecco-perch ... -in-corsa/

They are going to be the fastest car at the end of the year. The trajectory supports it.

That quote doesn't mean that McLaren will have the most updates in the second half. That's a misrepresentation of what it means. It simply means that they need to keep updating the car if they want to be at the top. That's all.

[AR3-GP]

Mclaren will have the most updates in the 2nd half

"If we want to be able to fight consistently for victories, we have to continue to focus on the updates. We are not naïve, we know that everyone else will too. It will be a race for developments until the last race. The good news is that McLaren is back in this race for updates as it fights for the top positions."

https://autoracer.it/mclaren-ecco-perch ... -in-corsa/

They are going to be the fastest car at the end of the year. The trajectory supports it.

That quote doesn't mean that McLaren will have the most updates in the second half. That's a misrepresentation of what it means. It simply means that they need to keep updating the car if they want to be at the top. That's all.

I'm not saying it based on this one quote. There's another one from 2 months ago where Stella said they shifted the development to the 2nd half of the year. It's the one where Mclaren was saying that they are still targeting the championships. I also posted that here. Mclaren's message has been consistent. They haven't updated as much in the first half of the year because the updates are coming in the 2nd half.

[jacme22]

Brown confirmed there are several upgrades in the pipeline. In any case, the team is in great position atm, we need to improve reliability and start eating Ferrari's lead away, if Russell starts to sink we could even catch Mercedes. For the WDC a true kimi collapse needs to happen to be even an option. But hopeful for the road ahead, if this years ends well, I'm very hopeful for the rest of these regulations as well.

[Darth-Piekus]

Something that came up to mind. I was watching the two divebombs of Max and Lando and I notice no one is talking about the first divebomb like something special but I don't see praises about Lando's great maneuver on Kimi Antonelli at the end of the straight from the same distance that Max did his own. Can we give some appreciation for a daring charge from the champion?

[rbirules]

Something that came up to mind. I was watching the two divebombs of Max and Lando and I notice no one is talking about the first divebomb like something special but I don't see praises about Lando's great maneuver on Kimi Antonelli at the end of the straight from the same distance that Max did his own. Can we give some appreciation for a daring charge from the champion?

Many differences between the two maneuvers. First Lando had pitted about 5 laps earlier (I forget exactly how old Kimi's tires were at that point 20-25 laps, somewhere in that range), and came out 6 seconds behind. He was lapping about a second a lap faster, which is the pace needed to overtake. Max pitted one lap after Lewis so they were on essentially the same tire (minimal offset). Kimi stays wide and leaves the inside open for Lando to go through without much fight, I think he knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He tries the cut back and to beat him to turn 2, but it doesn't work. Lando's fresher tires are too much. Max was already off the racing line, on a narrower entry and Lewis did move over to try and close the gap, but it was too late.

[venkyhere]

Something that came up to mind. I was watching the two divebombs of Max and Lando and I notice no one is talking about the first divebomb like something special but I don't see praises about Lando's great maneuver on Kimi Antonelli at the end of the straight from the same distance that Max did his own. Can we give some appreciation for a daring charge from the champion?

Many differences between the two maneuvers. First Lando had pitted about 5 laps earlier (I forget exactly how old Kimi's tires were at that point 20-25 laps, somewhere in that range), and came out 6 seconds behind. He was lapping about a second a lap faster, which is the pace needed to overtake. Max pitted one lap after Lewis so they were on essentially the same tire (minimal offset). Kimi stays wide and leaves the inside open for Lando to go through without much fight, I think he knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He tries the cut back and to beat him to turn 2, but it doesn't work. Lando's fresher tires are too much. Max was already off the racing line, on a narrower entry and Lewis did move over to try and close the gap, but it was too late.

why bother with an explanation ? DP is never going to accept the difference (because Norris > Verstappen is an established fact in his mind). Just let it be.

[Darth-Piekus]

Awww. You sound like Cranky Kong. Anyway. I love you too and I wish you a happy summer break.

By the way rbirules I am okay with your assessment and I can accept your explanation. Still I dare say it was a good maneuver considering Hungaroring is a hard to pass track even with better tyres and I don't think Hamilton expected it to happen as he was taken by surprise there. Not to mention that both Ferraris had the softer and faster tyre at the start but were unable to do a similar thing.

[rbirules]

By the way rbirules I am okay with your assessment and I can accept your explanation. Still I dare say it was a good maneuver considering Hungaroring is a hard to pass track even with better tyres and I don't think Hamilton expected it to happen as he was taken by surprise there. Not to mention that both Ferraris had the softer and faster tyre at the start but were unable to do a similar thing.

Yes Lewis was caught off guard by the move (he said as much after the race), that's the only reason it worked. You need close to a one second pace advantage to pass. That means either cars that aren't close to equal or a massive tire offset, which Lando had (20 laps newer).