2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[mwillems]

And you can win with boring sidepods

We aren't going to let Emag live this down are we?

Ahahahahaha

What's that thing they say about CFD goggles...

On a serious note, every year computational power increases, design tools get more complex and the idea of a concept becomes a lot more micro.

There's probably a lot of different flows on the car with each area having it's own concept.

Lot's of little changes making big differences.

I also suspect they are doing more with the underfloor than the regs originally envisaged.

[FittingMechanics]

Great win by NOR, he was flying today, actually all weekend to that matter. I feel gutted for PIA, even thogh he could have won due to positional driving, he lost the place to NOR and then his gearbox failed....

On the other hand, this is the 3rd consecutive year in 2 different rules set that Mclaren have billed a race winning car. To me this is a great sing how strong the technical department is at the moment.

And they did it this year with least amount of wind tunnel time and as a customer where Mercedes was deliberately withholding information. Great work by the technical team.

[mwillems]

What I was saying, badly, is that every year the details are smaller and greater in number, with ideas of what makes the cars work getting further and further from our sight

[FittingMechanics]

What I was saying, badly, is that every year the details are smaller and greater in number, with ideas of what makes the cars work getting further and further from our sight

Yeah I think that this is very true. You can probably gain a lot of laptime by just iterating on your initial design without any radical changes. This seems to be what McLaren was doing.

One thing that was interesting to me was that Lando said in the press conference that he didn't think the pace was that good in FP1 and was feeling down because of it and that Stella wanted to make a bet on it. I guess Stella really trusted the development team and the package that was brought.

[mwillems]

What I was saying, badly, is that every year the details are smaller and greater in number, with ideas of what makes the cars work getting further and further from our sight

Yeah I think that this is very true. You can probably gain a lot of laptime by just iterating on your initial design without any radical changes. This seems to be what McLaren was doing.

One thing that was interesting to me was that Lando said in the press conference that he didn't think the pace was that good in FP1 and was feeling down because of it and that Stella wanted to make a bet on it. I guess Stella really trusted the development team and the package that was brought.

I spose the other point I make badly, is that people hear "concept" and see an all encompassing design. Whilst the car works in a synergy (Sorry if you hate that word), the reality is far more complex.

As much as there is time in exotic designs. There's likely huge amounts of time simply from getting all the surfaces to work in Harmony.

[Slahinki]

I think Lando was pissed after Spa and he had good reason to be. It's probably why he is being a lot more vocal than you usually hear from him on his pace advantage. And truth be told, he actually had the pace to back his words up this time so it's not even a bad look. The guy had enough to win by 30-40 seconds easily had he not slid off in lap 1 (and don't get me wrong, that's his own fault, I am just making a point on the pace).

As for McLaren, this whole "equal treatment" thing is just flatout stupid when one of the drivers has a lot more pace on the other. It was different last year, because Lando was the weakest version of himself for some reason, but 2025 is turning out to be an outlier based on how 2026 has gone so far. They can't keep doing this. It cost them a lot with Lando at Spa and it might have cost them a win here.

I'm honestly growing tired of Piastri, his entourage and whatever it is he has in his contract that makes McLaren behave so irrationally with him. Today he was straight up slow and should have been told to either prove he can go faster, or get out of the way. And the moment things don't go his way he's on the radio whinging and blaming the team, even though he's just so slow he can't be helped. Bloody heck.

[Macklaren]

I think Lando was pissed after Spa and he had good reason to be. It's probably why he is being a lot more vocal than you usually hear from him on his pace advantage. And truth be told, he actually had the pace to back his words up this time so it's not even a bad look. The guy had enough to win by 30-40 seconds easily had he not slid off in lap 1 (and don't get me wrong, that's his own fault, I am just making a point on the pace).

As for McLaren, this whole "equal treatment" thing is just flatout stupid when one of the drivers has a lot more pace on the other. It was different last year, because Lando was the weakest version of himself for some reason, but 2025 is turning out to be an outlier based on how 2026 has gone so far. They can't keep doing this. It cost them a lot with Lando at Spa and it might have cost them a win here.

I'm honestly growing tired of Piastri, his entourage and whatever it is he has in his contract that makes McLaren behave so irrationally with him. Today he was straight up slow and should have been told to either prove he can go faster, or get out of the way. And the moment things don't go his way he's on the radio whinging and blaming the team, even though he's just so slow he can't be helped. Bloody heck.

I don't mind this. If the 'sheen' comes off him somewhat, he's less likely to be poached by another team like RBR

[MrGapes]

hello guys, long time no see

I remember hearing this radio when I was watching the onboard, he really is a confident cat this year
Lando on the radio: "I'll pull out a 10-second gap with no tyres" Will: "Are we willing to let Hamilton undercut us?" Lando: "Let him."

[De Wet]

And you can win with boring sidepods

We aren't going to let Emag live this down are we?

Nah I'll die on this hill. This car is basic(looking) as hell

I'm predicting very little change to the sidepods.