McLaren explained that the update package introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Formula 1 represented a conceptual change in the development of the MCL40. According to the team principal, Andrea Stella, the new parts were inspired by the analysis of Ferrari and Mercedes cars and aimed to “correct the course” of the project.
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Until the Budapest round, the team was behind Ferrari and the championship leader, Mercedes. At the Hungaroring, McLaren debuted four updates, including a revised rear wing endplate, as well as a new floor and panel. The result was immediate: Lando Norris converted pole position into victory.
Stella admitted that the team did not expect such a big performance jump: “We thought that this lap time gain would not necessarily be enough to be on pole position at the Hungaroring, and we definitely did not think it would be enough to have such a strong race pace.”
“Honestly, I still believe that if we want to be in a position to fight for wins consistently in the future, we need to keep focusing on delivering more updates. That is the plan, but we are not naive. We know that this will be the plan for all teams, so I think, as it has always been this 2026 season, it is a matter of an update race, and the good news is that McLaren is now back in that update race while fighting for the lead.”
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The director also explained that the new parts introduced a different concept in some areas of the car after the team identified the need to change the development direction.
“I think the main aspect of these updates is that they introduce some parts that follow a slightly different concept in some areas of the car. We realized, after delivering the MCL40 and also, to some extent, observing the concepts present in some cars faster than ours, that we needed to correct the course.”
Stella also praised McLaren’s aerodynamics, design, manufacturing, and logistics departments, revealing that some parts arrived only on Friday night to be installed on Oscar Piastri’s car on Saturday morning.
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