McLaren has no intention of giving up the world title crown so easily. The hope in Woking is to replicate the sensational technical comeback of 2023, which this time starts from even better premises. Contrary to three years ago, in fact, the team does not believe it has to start from a new concept. What has held back the MCL40 so far was not the wrong setup, but a planning of updates very different from the competition.
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In Miami the first developments in four months
The papaya team started the season with a double-natured delay from Mercedes. On one hand, the exploitation of the Brixworth power unit was not at the level of the Silver Arrows, especially from the point of view of energy management, but the MCL40 also paid the price on the aerodynamic front. “At McLaren we all know that we need to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the car, in particular the load”, analyzed Andrea Stella already during the Chinese Grand Prix. In Woking there is a conviction of knowing how to exploit the new Pirelli tires well, attributing the lack of grip mainly to aerodynamics.
Be careful, however, to underestimate the work conducted by the aerodynamic group, coordinated by Peter Prodromou. McLaren is the only top team to have almost not introduced updates, racing in Suzuka in the same guise as the Barcelona tests last January. It is even more surprising that, despite these premises, the team did not plan to introduce developments in the events canceled in April, as Stella revealed: “In all honesty, we didn’t have big plans in the pipeline for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, we had set a date after those two events. Our development path was not much affected”.
McLaren preferred to go step by step, initially prolonging the gestation of the MCL40 as long as possible, so much so as to plan the debut in the tests two days late. Subsequently, the team took its time to collect data, understand the car and be inspired by the competition, working on a package of updates that, when it arrives in Miami, will be the first in four months. “Some good things are happening with development”, commented Stella. “I expect the car to improve significantly in the next races”.
The concept is the right one
The reigning world champions harbor the hope of catching up with the top of the class, having already achieved something similar three years ago. “I think there is a substantial difference compared to 2023”, observed Stella. “The car we have now is a solid platform. If anything, it is underdeveloped, but there is nothing wrong with it from a conceptual point of view. It just needs to be developed more, following the conceptual guidelines we laid out in the design phase”.
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In 2023 the team introduced an important update package in Baku in April, defined as a conceptual change. From the simulations, in fact, the initial concept of the MCL60 had no potential to go beyond the role of fourth or fifth force by the end of the year: “We had to go back to the drawing board and redesign from a conceptual point of view the flow field we wanted to achieve, then reviewing the geometries quite extensively. For this car, however, I believe it will be more about accelerating development according to the principles we believe are correct”.
The MCL40 project, set in April 2024, clearly promises wide margins for growth, but McLaren did not want to rush things. The team chose not to make updates before Miami, maximizing time in the wind tunnel to develop a large package with an overall vision, rather than as a sum of new parts. The approach, moreover, allowed for savings on the budget cap, with the possibility of investing resources later in the season.
Tire management is also good
While waiting for the news, the MCL40 has already shown that it has retained a strength of its predecessor. Suzuka was the first race this year in which thermal degradation was the limiting factor, a phenomenon that the papaya car was able to manage well. Part of the credit goes to the rear suspension, which represents an evolution of that of 2025, but also to the design of the rims and brake ducts to cool the tires from the inside. Graining on the front tires, however, remains a chronic weak point of the Woking cars, highlighted by the new Pirellis, which are more sensitive to mechanical wear than the previous ones. McLaren hopes to be able to improve the situation by increasing the aerodynamic load with the updates, also lightening the MCL40 to the minimum weight.
The comeback on Mercedes, however, will also pass through the ability to improve the exploitation of the power unit. At the start of the season, the papaya team paid the disadvantage of being a customer team, not being able to know in depth all the sensitivities and facets of the engine at the same level as a full manufacturer. The gaps negatively affected simulation techniques and energy management strategies, but McLaren has nonetheless shown that it can progress as its skills have increased. The goal is to put more and more pressure on Mercedes, provided they no longer suffer from the reliability problems that prevented them from taking part in the Chinese Grand Prix, also limiting Norris’s preparation during the Suzuka free practice. The driver and constructor standings show 47 and 89 points behind the top respectively, but the feeling is that McLaren still has many cards to play.
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