After a challenging start to the 2026 season, McLaren suggests that fans will see a ‘brand new’ MCL40 at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
The first three races have not been ideal for the defending constructors’ and drivers’ champions.
Lando Norris could only manage fifth in Australia, whilst Oscar Piastri went 0-2 for the opening two Grand Prixs. However, the team enjoyed a hard-fought podium in Japan through Piastri, bringing them closer to the front of the field.
Due to the cancellation of rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, McLaren has had time to further close the gap. The team are now hopeful they will return to last season’s form when F1 returns in Miami.
“In our intent, there was always the idea to deliver sort of a completely new car, especially from an aerodynamic upgrades point of view, for the North American races,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told media, including Motorsport Week at a media day at the McLaren Technology Centre.
“So we could keep up with this plan. Obviously, the fact that the calendar has been changed sort of helped a little bit, like I’m sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing.”
Ultimately, Stella highlighted that Miami will see a new, and hopefully improved, McLaren.
“But I could say overall that across Miami and Canada, we will see an entirely new MCL40.”
Could this be a shift in F1’s pecking order?
Whilst extremely promising upgrades for McLaren, Stella suggests that the developments alone may not be enough to alter the competitive order.
“I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors,” Stella explained.
“So not necessarily it’s going to be a shift in the pecking order, it will be effectively just a check who has been able to add more performance within the same time frame. And we also have some performance to recover if we look at Mercedes and to some extent Ferrari as well.”
Despite not being anticipated to shake up the order dramatically, McLaren remains happy with the progress made during the prolonged break.
“But we are quite happy with the development that we’ve been able to manage in the background.
So hopefully we should be able to see a slightly more competitive MCL40 in Miami and then in Canada. Considering that the last race was already a decent competitive performance in Japan.”
“So we definitely look forward to the next races.”
Part of McLaren’s faith to progress forward comes from the last regulatory change. In 2022 the team appeared to be struggling and that continued until a miraculous mid-season breakthrough the following season.
“We take quite a bit of pride internally at McLaren that we managed to turn things around in a continuity of regulations,” Stella added.
“So we had kind of less know-how, we needed to generate IP, we needed to generate the solutions to gain a performance and competitive advantage, and since 2023, we managed to do it. This was something that we definitely wanted to crystallise in terms of our own achievement and consolidate the success that we’ve been able to produce.”
Looking ahead to McLaren’s future
Stella highlighted that the team would have ideally loved to continue with the former regulations at a higher level. However, the 2026 changes in F1 are an evident challenge, one that the team is eager to embrace. Driven by a desire to compete at the top.
“So while slightly uncomfortable, it’s actually a challenge that we welcome. It’s a challenge that will give us a measure of where we are effectively as a team,” Stella said.
“I have to say that even some of the challenges that we started with in terms of the start of the season, with a little bit of a mixed bag, kind of make the overall test even more probing, but even more interesting.
With several weeks of development taking place at the factory during the extended break in racing, Stella believes the groundwork has been laid for a stronger performance in the upcoming North American rounds.
“We are enjoying it. We look forward to show on track what we’ve been able to produce in the ground over this month, especially the last couple of months.
I think they’ve been quite positive in terms of development of the car in the ground.
Hopefully, we will see this in Miami, Canada and the following races in terms of development.”
McLaren will hit the track in Miami, next weekend for F1’s long awaited return. The circuit holds a special place for the Papaya team, who have claimed the last two victories at the venue.
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