New front wing concept at McLaren: What the Brazil update means for 2027

Despite trailing the frontrunners, McLaren is continuing to develop its MCL40: a new front wing concept could even lay the foundations for 2027

McLaren will introduce updates to its MCL40 Formula 1 car at this weekend’s 2026 São Paulo Grand Prix. These include a new front wing concept, which is also expected to feature on the team’s 2027 car.

Peter Prodromou, Technical Director for Aerodynamics, said: “We are bringing updates to the front wing, the rear wing and some underbody components. This is part of our normal development cycle. We aim to make up ground, improve our performance and build momentum for the coming year.”

As the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in São Paulo has historically been a “good track” for McLaren and is generally a “fairly representative circuit”, the team decided to introduce its new components in Brazil.

McLaren sets its sights on third place in the Constructors’ Championship

“Because the season isn’t over yet,” said Prodromou. “We want to take another step towards the top with these updates. They should help us in the battle for third place in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Red Bull currently holds third place with 382 points. McLaren follows in fourth place with 365 points. Mercedes (630 points) and Ferrari (504) have already pulled clear further up the table, whilst McLaren has a significant lead over Racing Bulls (108).

However, the long-established Formula 1 team is already looking ahead to 2027: “The insights gained from these updates will be incorporated into development for next year,” explained Prodromou. “We also expect to adopt the concept of the new front wing for the launch version of the 2027 car.”

How the latest McLaren updates have fared

McLaren had worked its way to the top with a comprehensive update for the MCL40 in Hungary. Lando Norris won there and subsequently also at Zandvoort. Since then, however, the team has slipped back down the pecking order, despite introducing another comprehensive update package in Baku as well as additional new parts in Austin.

In each of the last four qualifying sessions, McLaren had the fourth-fastest car. On average, they were 0.511 seconds off pole position and 0.236 seconds off the third-fastest car.

The race in Mexico was nevertheless encouraging: Norris finished fifth and was just twelve seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen at the finish. However, Norris did not appear particularly optimistic about the upcoming races.

“When we look at Baku and tracks like that, I think we’ll continue to have problems with pace,” said Norris. “So we still need to significantly improve the car on certain tracks and in certain areas. I don’t want to rely on a bit of hope or luck for our performance. We know we need to improve.”