McLaren wonders how Ferrari was able to develop so strongly despite the budget cap and sees their work as inspiration for its own development
McLaren describes Ferrari’s large number of car upgrades in the first half of the 2026 season as “inspiration,” while the team itself continues to strive to deliver updates on a regular basis.
The start of a new era of regulations has sparked a fierce development battle in the first half of the 2026 season. Ferrari and Red Bull, in particular, have impressed the competition with the sheer volume of upgrades they’ve been able to rush from the factory to the track at breakneck speed.
This development race is expected to continue after the summer break before leveling off as the teams shift their focus to 2027. Both Ferrari and McLaren have introduced enough improvements to their respective cars to snatch the first race wins away from the initially dominant Mercedes team.
McLaren still has at least one more trick up its sleeve for the Dutch Grand Prix in August, while further upgrades are also expected from Mercedes, as the team has so far brought fewer innovations to the track than its competitors.
But just like Mercedes, McLaren has also singled out Ferrari as the team that has impressed the most so far with the quantity and quality of its car upgrades—so much so that it has prompted the Woking-based team to reevaluate its own processes in order to match the design and manufacturing pace set by Maranello.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of bringing in a lot of upgrades that have improved the car’s performance,” says Neil Houldey, Technical Director of Engineering at McLaren. “But when you look at our competitors, there are teams like Ferrari that have done a fantastic job this year of simply pushing that development forward.”
McLaren Is Also Pushing Ahead Early
When asked if he feels that Ferrari has front-loaded its development budget below the budget cap—and whether this might offer McLaren a chance to make a bigger splash after the summer—Houldey replies: “Well, I think we’ve also front-loaded what’s available to us.”
“I’d say, purely in terms of volume, it looks like Ferrari has accomplished an enormous amount. That’s something we need to look at and understand how they were able to achieve it. Because you have to consider this both from the perspective of aerodynamic development and from the perspective of manufacturing.”
“How they actually implemented these things so quickly is an inspiration for us to say, ‘Come on, we were good in 2024. We were good in 2025. But how do we do even better in 2026 and looking ahead to 2027?’”
“In Formula 1—as with everything else—if you don’t move forward and find ways to get things done faster and more effectively, you effectively fall behind,” he says. “So I think it was a good lesson for us to see what others are capable of and how we’re doing it.”
McLaren Plans to Keep Working on the 2026 Car
According to Houldey, McLaren plans to continue developing the 2026 car well into the season, rather than shifting its focus to 2027 early on. He is convinced that the lessons the team is learning now will also apply to the 2027 project—even if McLaren plans to change key elements of the car’s design, such as the wheelbase and suspension geometry.
“We expect to bring some major updates to the next few races, and we anticipate doing so even quite late in the season,” he reveals. “We’re certainly not stopping development for 2026, because we know that everything we learn—which we’ll carry over from 2026 to 2027—is transferable.”
“Even if our car might get a little longer, even if the suspension were to change conceptually: Everything we learn this year is absolutely relevant for next year. So we’re very keen to continue developing the car for as long as we possibly can.”
