Bad news for Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull: McLaren are working on this for 2026!

16:19, 06 May

byNorberto Mujica

That McLaren are currently dominating F1 by and large, is not under question, however, team principal Andrea Stella reveals he and his team could carry crucial aspects of their advantage over to 2026.

In 2026 F1 will undergo a massive regulations change both in terms of chassis, aerodynamics and Power Units. McLaren believe that there are certain intricacies to their current car that can be transferred over to next year's car as well.

McLaren to carry over fundamentals of their dominant F1 philosophy into 2026

"I think there are some fundamentals that you can carry over. There are some other aspects which are somehow constant evolution and improvement of a platform, like the platform of our car in the current regulations, that we now know very well."

"But I think some fundamentals in terms of understanding you can carry over into next year's car. Some other aspects, we will have to understand how do we transfer them from this car to next year's car," added Stella revealing the team's intentions to take the aspects of their current car that are allowing to dominate F1 at their leisure, into 2026 and beyond.

Not easy, however, but Stella signals same work methodology approach

Not an easy feat, however, since certain essential concepts will change, thus also affecting key aspects of the car.

"Like for instance if we consider the aerodynamic aspect which do influence the behaviour of the tyres, obviously the aerodynamic level of downforce next year and the shape of the map will be completely different."

"So we will have to think how do we transfer this knowledge that we have accumulated on this kind of regulations onto a set of regulations and aerodynamic levels and maps which will be completely different."

"So some more work to do and I foresee that we'll be with the new regulations another process of continued improvements like we have seen for us with the current regulations"