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After suffering for a long time in the first phase of the new season, the reigning world champions have returned to the spotlight: in Budapest, before the long summer break, McLaren and Lando Norris returned to the top step of the podium dominating the Hungarian GP and collecting the first win of the season. The dream of a super-comeback like 2024 – when the Woking team won the Constructors’ title and challenged Max Verstappen’s quest for a fourth world title – seems difficult to repeat, but this does not prevent the papaya team from aiming for other prestigious stage wins, starting precisely from the Dutch GP in Zandvoort.
For this weekend the MCL40 has decided to ‘dress up’ and present itself with some interesting updates, as revealed by the team’s technical director Neil Houldey presenting the appointment in the Netherlands: “We arrive in Zandvoort after finishing the last race before the break with a win and a great performance – said the British engineer – but we are well aware of how tight the competition is and how important reliability will be. We have learned a lot in the first part of the season about how to drive this car to get the most performance and how to contain the problems we encountered at the start of the year. We have also worked hard as a team on continuous development, with some components available this weekend, focusing on the rear end, to complete the package introduced in Hungary with a new rear wing and new air intakes for the rear brakes. But we know that other teams will also bring developments. Therefore, it will be another difficult weekend and our goal is to get the most out of the car. If we are good, we can fight with the leading teams“.
Slower in corners, faster on the straight
For the last F1 race at Zandvoort, before having to say goodbye to this circuit, the focus is on the infamous ‘bumps’ of the orange track; not forgetting that the new technical regulations introduced this year will force drivers to approach the track layout differently than in previous seasons: “With the 2026 cars we expect lower cornering speeds due to reduced aerodynamic downforce, but higher straight-line speeds thanks to increased power and lower aerodynamic drag on the straights – observed Houldey – this changes the way drivers will tackle some parts of the lap and means that free practice will be crucial to understand the updates we are introducing, refine data collection and resource use, and adapt if weather conditions add an extra level of complexity“.
“The Zandvoort circuit offers a unique engineering challenge, with its banked corners, high-speed sections, undulating track and wind, which can make the car’s handling unpredictable – concluded McLaren’s technical director – one of the main goals for the weekend will be to find the right balance between stiffness and driving comfort on the rougher parts of the circuit, while ensuring to optimize aerodynamic setup and ride height during free practice”.
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