McLaren, a disappointing Spa
A year ago McLaren dominated at Spa-Francorchamps, thanks to a car without competition in terms of generated aerodynamic downforce. In 2026 the situation has changed, and the papaya often play the role of the fourth force. It was the same in the Belgian GP, which saw Oscar Piastri finish fifth and Lando Norris seventh.
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The team showed some encouraging signs of improvement and was heavily penalized by incidents. Piastri’s race was compromised by contact with Charles Leclerc on the Kemmel straight, which damaged the car’s floor, causing a loss of performance and increased tire degradation; Norris’s race (starting 13th due to ECU replacement) could have turned into a podium jewel, but an unfavorable Virtual Safety Car and a problem during the pit stop cost him precious time.
Norris’s words
“I have mixed feelings. This weekend the potential was extremely high, both regarding my feeling with the car and the pace, which was strong enough to probably allow us to fight for a podium. I felt very confident with the setup and knew exactly how the car would behave, which is a huge point in our favor for the future“, this is the world champion’s comment. “It’s a pity about the result, everything that could have complicated our life did. We were unlucky with the VSCs, which favored our rivals, and the delay caused by a technical problem during the pit stop cost us a significant amount of time that translates into position on track and points. When you have the pace to get a great result but are held back by unfavorable factors like these, it’s frustrating. Now we will work to analyze what went wrong and learn from it before returning to the track in Hungary“.
Piastri’s words
“We had a good pace, especially in the first stint, and the podium was not out of the question, which is a positive aspect. However, it was certainly not an easy race. The damage suffered after contact with Charles made things much more difficult, as we were losing a few tenths per lap. I struggled for the rest of the stint and, although we managed to compensate a bit for the loss in the second stint, the race was tougher than necessary“, added Piastri. “We definitely need a bit more performance, because it seems we are always one step behind. Now we look ahead and hope that the new updates we intend to introduce will help us close that gap and compete more consistently. Let’s see what we can do in Hungary“.
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