McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed what he has described as a ‘redirection’ in terms of a timeframe of the team’s forthcoming batch of upgrades for the Formula 1 season.
The Woking-based squad has suffered a tough 2026 season, with its grip on both Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships loosened to a likely impossibility of retaining.
Despite possessing the Mercedes powertrain, which has seen its works team take a dominant lead in both championships, the MCL40 has been lagging behind its big rivals.
Its Miami Grand Prix showing was its best of the season so far, with reigning World Champion Lando Norris taking second place as well as a victory in the Sprint Race.
But the race was largely an outlier, as both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri have been unable to significantly challenge, a stark contrast from being the class of the field across much of the last two campaigns.
With upgrades coming in thick and fast for all teams already – including McLaren – there is now an interesting wait to see which teams will be interpreting the new regulations as the first season with them progresses and nears its halfway mark.
And Stella, speaking to media including Motorsport Week at the British GP last weekend, has outlined what the papaya outfit’s direction is likely to be.
“During the development, I think we adopted some directions from a conceptual point of view, that as we learn more about the 2026 regulations, I would say that we are redirecting,” the Italian said.
“And this, like everything, especially from an aerodynamic point of view, is not something that you can get to converge in the space of a week. It normally takes one or two months, and I think these couple of months is the delay that we have at the moment.
“We see that it is probably two, three months the space between which we see upgrades from the top teams. So I think that’s what we believe – we have now a clear direction in terms of development.
“But it takes in some areas of the car – or it took – a couple of months to get it to be realised.
“So we should see in Hungary the first results of this approach, and then hopefully more and more upgrades for the rest of the season.”
McLaren will be relying on that Mercedes power unit, which also can benefit from ADUO upgrades, to power them to a better result next weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
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