Monaco will be a big weekend for McLaren this year, as the team celebrates its 1000th grand prix. It’s a landmark previously achieved only by Scuderia Ferrari, and a landmark that was supposed to have happened back in Miami until the cancellation of the two Middle East races moved it back a bit. That delay is actually a happy coincidence, as it means that the party also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the team’s low-key debut at the 1966 Monaco GP, when it ran a single car for founder Bruce McLaren. Perfect timing.
Whether this double celebration manifests itself in a winning performance remains to be seen, given that thus far, it’s been a tricky 2026 season for the reigning World Champions. Not only has the works Mercedes outfit been dominant in terms of performance and results, but McLaren has also dropped the ball on more than one occasion and failed to gather the points that would help to keep the team in the title hunt. Oscar Piastri crashed out before the start in Australia, both cars failed to make the grid in China due to engine issues, and then Canada saw a disastrous call to take intermediate tires for the start prior to a trouble race that saw Piastri delayed by a collision and Lando Norris out with a gearbox failure.
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Kym Illman//Getty Images
“Certainly, the start of the season has been challenging,” team boss Andrea Stella admitted in Montreal. “And we have had issues of different kinds. There’s definitely lots to take away and review. At the same time, there [are] encouraging indications in terms of the development of the car, and how much we are learning in terms of power unit exploitation.”
Still, Stella has always been a glass-half-full guy, seeing any setback as a chance to learn and improve. He remains upbeat. “It’s definitely below what would have been our expectation, to be in contention for the championship,” he said. “But at the same time, we want to take the positive. It’s still five races out of at least 22—we will see if the Middle East races will be recovered. We don’t think very much of what’s been, we just try to learn every day, such that for the next race we are as prepared as possible. And we are definitely believers that the championship is not signed off. We want to be in this championship, and we want the championship to be decided in Abu Dhabi. I think this is a strong determination that we have at McLaren, and we want to make this happen.”
The last two races had special significance, as McLaren had waited to introduce a major upgrade package, with the first step in Miami and the second coming in Montreal. Mercedes, by contrast, kept its powder dry until one major hit of new parts Canada. The obvious initial conclusion was that Mercedes had maintained its edge once both teams had played their respective jokers. However, it’s perhaps not quite so straightforward; Montreal is not a typical track, so a sample size of a few more venues may be needed before it becomes clear how the two upgrade packages really stack up.
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On top of that, McLaren opted to remove the MCL40’s new front wing in Canada after Norris didn’t feel comfortable with it in FP1; given it was a busy sprint weekend, it was deemed safer to stick with the known older version. Logic suggests that when the updated one is put back on the car and optimized around the rest of the new bits—which were designed as a package—there will be a performance gain.
However, Stella himself remains cautious about drawing too many conclusions. “I think there are some encouraging indications that we seem to learn more and more about our car, and optimize all the new parts that we bring to the MCL40,” he said. “I think between the sprint sessions and the qualifying, we have done some work of optimization of the car from a setup point of view [and aa] tire exploitation point of view, so this has allowed us to make the car quicker. But I would be a bit careful to just look at things in a mathematical sense. Like, we went from 0.3 seconds to 0.150 seconds [from Mercedes], and then if you add some more lap time that we may be available with the parts that we actually didn’t race, then you match Mercedes. In my view, you have to look at things more holistically over a period of time in different conditions.”
And his conclusion is a simple one: there is still work to do to catch the pacesetters, even if the new wing will help in the process. “In my view, if I look within a large enough window, then Mercedes have pretty much always been faster,” said Stella. “They are faster. I think [there are] encouraging indications for McLaren that we are understanding the package, we are understanding the power unit exploitation, and the fact that there are some parts that we need to understand a bit better before they become part of the package. But at the same time, Mercedes retains a certain advantage pretty much in all conditions. We expect possibly to catch further with a second round of upgrades—because with this one, it won’t be enough.”
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Meanwhile, despite his frustrating weekend in Montreal, 2025 world champion Norris remains upbeat. He suggests that neither Montreal nor Monaco are fully representative, and that by the time the season gets to a “normal” track, the true picture will be more apparent.
“I think we’re encouraged still,” he said after his troubled Canadian GP. “I think it’s clear that they’re still a good step ahead. I still think this is a very outlying track—and I think Monaco, again, is another track that’s very different. So I think, to really wait and see how we’re going to be in Barcelona, is something I’m excited for.”
Intriguingly, Norris believes that the main opposition will not come from Mercedes. “Honestly, I think the Ferrari will be on pole next weekend in Monaco. Their low-speed performance is far better than everyone else. I look forward to Monaco, because it’s Monaco; I had good success there last year, it was one of my best weekends, most exciting weekends.”
So will a second shot at making that new front wing work help this weekend and beyond? “You would hope so,” said Norris. “I think Monaco—you never see so many upgrades, and it’s hard to exploit them to the same potential. Difficult to know. We need to just make sure it works properly next time. It’s not a guarantee we’re going to run it in Monaco, but we will do tests to see if we can make it work better.”