Reigning Champions McLaren have been relatively absent from pre-season discussions. The Woking-based outfit are currently being overshadowed by Mercedes, their supplier team, and the seemingly bulletproof W17.
Of course, this is not something McLaren will be particularly concerned about. Team principal Andrea Stella prefers to go under the radar and avoid the usual expectations that come after clinching both Championships.
Regardless, putting Mercedes aside and placing McLaren under the microscope, some important observations have been made about the papaya outfit.
Piastri gives first impressions of MCL40
Out of last year’s front-runners, McLaren encountered them most technical issues in Barcelona. This is not to say the MCL40 had a poor shakedown – having completed almost 300 laps in total.
In any case, it should be noted that a fuel system problem on Thursday limited the MCL40’s running. Turning towards on-track performance, McLaren’s fastest laps were among the best times set by Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.
Though nothing can be concluded from a pre-season shakedown, the British team avoided any detrimental surprises.
The question becomes how quickly team papaya can optimise the MCL40. By extension, McLaren must determine if this car has the potential to fight with the best in 2026.
Speaking of maximising their package, McLaren are also getting to grips with the Mercedes engine. As a customer team, one of their primary tasks is to work around the power unit provided to them by the Brixworth factory.
Oscar Piastri has explained why understanding the Mercedes power unit is equally important to managing the car’s aerodynamic and mechanical aspects:
“I feel like I got into a pretty good rhythm and was able to start to feel what the car is actually like, which was nice. Tried a few things already to see how we can improve it, and stuff like that.
“But yeah, just trying to run it in different configurations and stuff like that, to see what it’s like for race weekend…
“Still definitely a lot to learn, especially on the power unit side of things. Just how you get the most of it and how you go the fastest, basically.
“So still plenty of things to learn there [about the engine]. But I think we’ve kind of understood some of the problems, some of the limitations. Some of the things are just different compared to last year – both on the power unit and the car.
“Obviously the car itself, it’s got a lot less downforce than what we had last year as well. So getting used to that and how that feel has been the biggest thing we’ve started to get ourselves into.” (cont. on next page)
