McLaren reveals its budget cap strategy as rivals question development spending
McLaren won its first race of the season in Hungary, but has a solution for any potential power unit deficits.
While rivals question how much teams are spending on upgrades, McLaren insists it has left enough room under the budget cap to keep developing the MCL40.
There are, however, “several questions” that each team must answer for itself, says McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
McLaren MCL40 development plan revealed with budget cap ‘headroom’
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Formula 1 has operated under a budget cap since 2021, with the cap introduced to close the financial gap between the sport’s top teams and the smaller teams.
It hamstrung the big earners as it meant they could no longer just throw money at a problem until they got it right.
This season the cost cap is set at $215million for F1 2026, compared to the base of $135m in 2025, with an extra $1.8m per race allowed beyond the 21st grand prix.
Some teams, at least according to Toto Wolff, are already burning through budget.
Casting an eye on Ferrari, which brought two extensive upgrades to the track in Miami and Barcelona, he said: “We’re always a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do.
“In my opinion, they need to be running out of money soon, cost cap money, because we can’t do that. Simply lacking the buffer and cost cap to be able to bring so many parts in the way they do.
“So hopefully that’s going to change towards the end of the season, when they won’t be able to bring any parts anymore. At least let’s say the logic would say that, and then we’re going to come with more.”
But while Ferrari caught the attention of the Mercedes team principal, it is actually McLaren who has introduced the most new parts since the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May, when F1 returned after a month off racing.
The Woking team has brought 32 new parts to the track, ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull’s 29, and Mercedes’ 20.
| Race | McLaren | Mercedes | Ferrari | Red Bull |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | 7 | 2 | 11 | 7 |
| Canada | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4 |
| Monaco | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Barcelona | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| Austria | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Britain | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTAL: | 32 | 20 | 29 | 29 |
And there’s more to come from McLaren.
“The upgrades we took [in Hungary],” Stella said, “they are part of a round of upgrades that is distributed over a few rounds, so this was the first part of these upgrades.
“There will be a few things coming for the next races.”
Stella, though, isn’t worried about McLaren’s spending under the budget cap.
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Although McLaren has been one of the teams, along with Ferrari and Red Bull, that has front-loaded its upgrades in the first months with the all-new cars, he says McLaren still has headroom to develop the car as the season progresses.
After all, any changes made in the second half of this season benefit next year’s car.
“Definitely in our approach to the budget cap, we knew that 2026 would have been not much about the starting point, but more about the race to upgrade the car,” he told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.
“So we wanted to leave enough overhead in our budget prediction, such that we were in condition to spend money on upgrading the car.
“So independently of the extra allowance that is permitted by the power unit regulation changes for 2027, we were already in a good position in terms of being able to invest in upgrading the MCL40.
“The allowance you have for next year, it can be used, but obviously you need to be careful that you don’t need this money for the modifications that will have to be applied to the car.
“But in itself, if you want to focus on this season, definitely something that you can bring forward and take advantage of.
“But I think for some teams at some stage it will also be a matter of which season are you focusing on.
“Because it’s not only the budget that is a limitation, you have limitations from a design point of view, or which car do you put in the wind tunnel – next year’s car or this year’s car.
“So there’s several questions that you have to answer, and part of this answer depends on where you are shifting your focus this season or entirely onto next year.”
Reigning champion McLaren is third in the Constructors’ Championship on 220 points, 159 down on championship leader Mercedes.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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