McLaren Confirm Brazil and Vegas Upgrades as Stella Chases Return to the Podium Fight
No quick fix in Mexico as McLaren stagger their development
McLaren will head into the final stretch of the season with fresh parts on the way, but not immediately. Team Principal Andrea Stella has confirmed that the next meaningful upgrade package will not arrive until the Brazilian Grand Prix, with a further batch planned for Las Vegas.
"There will be some more stuff coming. I think ultimately we will only be able to do so across Brazil and Vegas. So Mexico, there won't be very much, but Brazil and Vegas, there will be some upgrades," said Stella.
The timeline means McLaren expect to run the Mexican Grand Prix essentially with the specification that took Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to a fifth and seventh-place finish respectively at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Target: consistent podiums, then victories
Stella was clear about what the upgrades are designed to achieve — not just an occasional flash of pace, as seen in Austin when Norris briefly ran second before fading to fifth, but a car that can sustain a challenge at the front.
"Hopefully, this will help us to, like I said before, be consistently in the fight for podiums and hopefully start to lean on the level of competitiveness that is required to fight for the victory, so there's a few upgrades that are still in the pipeline."
That ambition is framed against a difficult recent run. Since Norris' brace of victories in the summer, the Briton has gone four Grands Prix without a podium finish, a slump that has taken the sheen off McLaren's season.
A season of hard lessons for McLaren
The 2026 campaign has been a long grind for the team, and Austin was far from the first setback.
McLaren left Azerbaijan empty-handed in late September, after Oscar Piastri threw away what looked like a certain podium with a late mistake and Norris was taken out in a collision following a power unit problem that had hampered him all weekend. Speaking on 27 September 2026, Stella pulled no punches about the weaknesses exposed in Baku, admitting the team had paid for "some fundamental limitations" with its package around the streets of the circuit, and pointing to a straight-line speed deficit as well as an unresolved fuel injection issue.
Piastri's own form has been a work in progress. On 23 October 2026, ahead of the United States Grand Prix, the Australian said he finally felt "back in the ballpark" with McLaren's new car after a difficult start to the year, describing the season as challenging but pointing to recent signs of tangible progress in getting to grips with the machinery. His seventh place in Austin, holding off George Russell, was another small step in that direction.
What happens next
McLaren now face a run of three races across Mexico, Brazil and Las Vegas before the season closes, with the upgrade schedule deliberately weighted towards the final two. If Stella's package delivers what he hopes, McLaren's target for the closing rounds is straightforward: stop fighting for the lower reaches of the top five, and start fighting for the podium — and beyond — on a weekly basis.