Strategic Pivot in Development

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has confirmed that the team is changing its direction regarding car upgrades after a challenging weekend at the British Grand Prix. Despite a decent points haul, Stella admitted that the MCL40 was significantly off the pace of its primary rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Following the race, Stella noted that Lando Norris's fourth-place finish was more an "overachievement" due to the struggles of others rather than the car's own merit. He estimated that the team currently faces a performance gap of approximately half a second compared to the top teams.

The Cost of Championship Battles

Stella conceded that McLaren's current development struggle is partly linked to the intense championship battle last year. The focus on maximizing the MCL39's performance to compete with Max Verstappen meant that momentum on the 2026 project was temporarily sidelined.

"I would say that having been in the championship so tight with Red Bull, and Verstappen in particular in the drivers’, we needed some of our attention in terms of keeping working on the car," Stella explained. He emphasized that ensuring race-by-race maximization was critical as the challenge from Verstappen became increasingly "material."

Roadmap to Recovery

The team is now redirecting several conceptual aerodynamic paths for their future machinery. Because aerodynamic convergence takes time, Stella expects a delay of one to two months before these changes yield tangible results on track.

The recovery plan is divided into short-term and mid-term goals:

• Short-term: The first results of the new approach are expected to debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
• Mid-term: A more substantial round of upgrades is planned to coincide with the summer shutdown.

Stella expressed confidence that the current development path is more sustained than in previous phases, stating, "I think we are going to close the gap with another step of upgrades... hopefully by then the others have not disappeared too far in front in the championship."