2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[Macklaren]

Good to see. There were some suspicious large blank spaces in the livery

[Emag]

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.

[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.

You've been calling it basic since day 1. It's not basic at all.

[Emag]

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.

You've been calling it basic since day 1. It's not basic at all.

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

[the EDGE]

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.

You've been calling it basic since day 1. It's not basic at all.

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?

[CjC]

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?

[SmallSoldier]

You've been calling it basic since day 1. It's not basic at all.

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?

Only “unique” ideas so far… Alpine’s and Ferrari’s straight mode rear wing deployment, Audi’s sidepod concept… Beyond that there is nothing revolutionary from the Team’s so far.

We still fall under the “Complex = Fast” fallacy

[Emag]

You've been calling it basic since day 1. It's not basic at all.

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.

[Emag]

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.

[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.

You did claim looks=performance. It’s right there in your post. You’re saying you don’t know why McLaren can keep up since you find it dull and uninteresting.

[Emag]

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.

You did claim looks=performance. It’s right there in your post. You’re saying you don’t know why McLaren can keep up since you find it dull and uninteresting.

I know eye aero is bullsh*t and everything, ....
Visually speaking, it makes no sense for this car to keep up with the other 3.

I thought I was making it clear I am speaking based on looks alone. If I were to rank cars based solely on looking at the presumed top 4 cars, I would not put McLaren in the same rank with the others.

[AR3-GP]

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.

You did claim looks=performance. It’s right there in your post. You’re saying you don’t know why McLaren can keep up since you find it dull and uninteresting.

I know eye aero is bullsh*t and everything, .... Visually speaking, it makes no sense for this car to keep up with the other 3.

I thought I was making it clear I am speaking based on looks alone. If I were to look at the presumed top 4 cars, I would not put McLaren in the same rank with the others.

I don’t know where to start.

The McLaren has a sidepod that is as aggressive as Aston Martin. You just see the side of the monocoque and some sliver of sidepod sticking out. McLaren has even more aggressive anti-dive than last year. Unique barge boards, Bib tray is serrated, longest nose cone, front wing design uses diveplanes like others, they remain the only team with the fully isolated cooling system. There are a lot of interesting details in this car imo.

While many are wondering why McLaren doesn’t have a slotted diffuser, imo that subject is misunderstood. Those slots are used to “repair” a separated diffuser. The fact that McLaren hasn’t run into the issue is the more interesting conclusion.

[CjC]

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.

Which if fair enough.
It was an awesome car though so I’m happy for them to continue with dull cars if it keeps the performance ceiling high.

Call me biased but I personally prefer the look of the MCL40 compared to the other 3 big hitters

[Emag]

You did claim looks=performance. It’s right there in your post. You’re saying you don’t know why McLaren can keep up since you find it dull and uninteresting.

I know eye aero is bullsh*t and everything, .... Visually speaking, it makes no sense for this car to keep up with the other 3.

I thought I was making it clear I am speaking based on looks alone. If I were to look at the presumed top 4 cars, I would not put McLaren in the same rank with the others.

I don’t know where to start.

The McLaren has a sidepod that is as aggressive as Aston Martin. You just see the side of the monocoque and some sliver of sidepod sticking out. McLaren has even more aggressive anti-dive than last year. Unique barge boards, Bib tray is serrated, longest nose cone, front wing design uses diveplanes like others, they remain the only team with the fully isolated cooling system. There are a lot of interesting details in this car imo.

Fair evaluation. The matter of looks is way more subjective (and hence worthless when it comes to technical talk) than the actual objective performance on track. That's why I made this post in the more open team thread.

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).

With regards to your breakdown of McLaren's features, for the first bit you mentioned, I just relate it to the tight packaging, which I already acknowledge. I don't think midfield teams can achieve what McLaren has achieved with regards to that. The bargeboards I don't consider particularly unique after seeing Williams showing something similar (although again, theirs is not as detailed). The other things are also nothing to scoff at, but for me they don't fall into the category of "clever" that I mentioned initially, with the exception of the front suspension.

I have only gotten the "wow" impression from a handful of cars in the last 10 years. A big one was from the SF70H, which in my opinion is the most aggressive and innovative car of that year. A close second of that era is the RB14. A car which didn't get what it deserved in my opinion because if it were powered by a Ferrari or Mercedes PU that year, it would have demolished the competition. I mention it in particular as during the winter (for fun), I spent a lot of time looking at telemetry data from 2018's quali and it's crazy how much better than Ferrari and Mercedes RB were that year, only to lose everything in the straights.

The last car that gave me the "wow" impression was the F175, with RB20 a close second from the GE cars. It was genuinely interesting to look at when it first launched, trying to make sense of the sidepod inlets and what was going on with the centerline.

I mention these examples just to show how completely uncorrelated my impressions are to the performance of the cars. I am literally just expressing an opinion here, not making claims on performance. None of the cars that I have considered "wow"-worthy won anything of value (except from RB20). The dominant Mercedes and the dominant GE RedBulls didn't "do it" for me.

[Macklaren]

https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2024887027355865539

Stella reiterating the message. I don't think he's bluffing...I think it will be close between Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren but McLaren is third between them. But when the first big update arrives (Miami?) I think McLaren can leap them with the foundation that they have