Having claimed consecutive constructors Championships in impressive fashion, McLaren enter 2026 with a metaphorical target on their back.
The British team became F1’s benchmark in the final years of ground effect cars. They understood how to optimise performance better than anyone else, largely thanks to an unmatched accuracy in correlation between data from the factory to the circuit.
Looking ahead to 2026, the challenge for McLaren is to master a completely new generation of cars. Given the constraints of the budget cap and last season’s battle with Verstappen, this is a tall order – at least on paper.
However, team principal Andrea Stella believes his squad is very well-positioned.
McLaren did not allow 2025 title race to compromise 2026
F1 is often an exercise in prioritisation, with teams constantly deciding where to direct their resources. With only limited funds allocated for updates and new components, short-term pain is sometimes necessary in pursuit of long-term improvement.
This was particularly relevant last year, when some teams abandoned development to work on the 2026 regulations.
However, making this decision was relatively easy for midfield teams. Of course, there were still some upgrades introduced to the cars further down the pecking order.
With that said, the midfield pack could switch their focus to 2026 at very little cost. The likes of Aston Martin and Williams, with genuine aspirations of fighting at the sharp end, are prime examples of this.
For Red Bull and McLaren, who fought intensely for the drivers title, the equation was far more complicated.
Red Bull opted to go all-in and develop last year’s RB21 until the very end – though this came at a price. Hardly any updates arrived to Yuki Tsunoda’s car in order to save money and concentrate efforts on Verstappen.
Even with this laser-focus on the #1 car, Red Bull still compromised some of their 2026 development. Compared to other teams, they were slow to abandon last year’s package and begin work on the new cars.
In fairness, Red Bull had a similar approach in 2021 – and still emerged as Champions in 2022. Regardless, Laurent Mekies’ squad are certainly trying to make up for lost time.
The same cannot be said for McLaren, who did not allow last year’s title race to delay any efforts towards 2026.
Stella explained this to the media at the end of 2025:
“If anything, Red Bull gave us an important challenge in the second part of 2025, when we had already stopped development for some time.
“The technical team at McLaren is particularly strong…
“This is one of the strongest technical departments I have been part of in my career, 26 years in F1.
“And this means that – while the specifics of the current regulations will not necessarily apply to the future – the working way, the standards, the approach to the development of the car, the objectives from a technical point of view – they do carry into the future.
“And this makes us optimistic for the 2026 season.”
