Racing
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McLaren’s first major 2026 upgrade package turned the reigning champions into Mercedes’ closest rival in Miami, but team principal Andrea Stella insists it is still far too early to talk up a championship fight.
After a difficult opening stretch, McLaren arrived at the Miami Grand Prix with a substantial new package and saw an immediate return. Lando Norris won the sprint, then Norris and Oscar Piastri both finished on the podium in Sunday’s grand prix. Stella said that step made McLaren “the closest rival to Mercedes in Miami,” even though the team remains third in the constructors’ standings with 94 points, 86 behind Mercedes.
That represented a sharp change from McLaren’s start to the year. Norris had finished only fifth in Australia, both McLarens failed to start in China, and Piastri’s second place in Japan had been the team’s first podium of the season.
Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, urged restraint when asked what Miami meant for the title picture. “If we start now thinking about the championships at the end of the season, we need to be a little careful because we’re only at the fourth race,” he said. “We’ve just brought our first update. We are in Miami and McLaren traditionally goes very well here, so it may be that the way we develop our cars suits this circuit.”
The package itself was a broad aerodynamic overhaul rather than a single-part change. McLaren revised the air inlets near the front wheels, engine cover, floor geometry, sidepod inlets, wing mirrors, air inlets near the rear wheels, rear wing, endplates and cooling fins, all with the aim of improving airflow conditioning and generating more downforce.
Miami also reflected work done beyond the visible aero parts. McLaren had gathered engine performance data at Suzuka and worked with Mercedes engine engineers to improve its understanding of the power unit and energy management, an important area after reliability concerns earlier in the season.
Even with Stella trying to cool the outside noise, McLaren’s view is not short on ambition. He said the team still wants to think in the long term and defend its titles, but only by improving the car step by step in the present.
He also argued McLaren’s driver line-up gives it a real platform if the car continues to move forward. Looking at the constructors’ championship, Stella said Norris and Piastri are “probably the strongest duo” on the grid. He pointed to Piastri fighting near the front in Japan with a car that “was not yet competitive,” then backing that up with another podium in Miami, while Norris added a sprint victory and contested the grand prix win. As Stella put it, McLaren now needs to capitalize on that strength by making the car “a bit faster.”