McLaren makes further upgrade hint after successful Hungary F1 package
McLaren appeared to make an upgrade breakthrough in Budapest last time out.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has said there are set to be further upgrades to come after the summer break, after a successful round of updates in Hungary.
He stopped short of calling the weekend in Budapest, where Lando Norris took pole and race victory for the first time in 2026, a “turning point”, but there will be more to come from McLaren when Formula 1 gets back underway.
McLaren upgrades set to continue after Hungarian GP impact
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The sport ends its summer hiatus with the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, which will begin a run of four races in six weeks to round off the European portion of the calendar.
With McLaren getting off the mark for race wins last time out, Norris became the fifth different winner in as many races before the summer break, as the sport’s competitive picture heats up.
Having implemented a successful upgrade package at the Hungaroring last time out, Stella confirmed those updates were part of a wider package to come over the coming rounds.
With such a high development rate in particular in 2026, McLaren and its rivals are picking up the “low-hanging fruit” available from the early stages of these regulations.
“The upgrades we took [in Hungary], 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 confirmed to PlanetF1.com and others.
“I have to say, this year, pretty much the top teams have always been successful in introducing upgrades from what I can see, and I think this is because the rules are still relatively immature, and the opportunities in terms of developing the car are almost low-hanging fruit to cash in.
“So, I don’t think McLaren has any particular advantage in like ‘oh, everything we take is successful’, I think everyone is now doing a good job in terms of bringing successful upgrades.
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“I think it will be more about how many upgrades the top teams will be in condition to deliver so far and for what’s left of the season, because we are only midway in this season – so I think it’s far too early to say whether this is a turning point for McLaren or not.
“We just look at the facts. The fact is that the upgrades delivered as we intended but, like I said, I think the pole position [in Hungary] is a little bit of an overachievement, thanks to execution and maximising the potential that was available.”
McLaren currently sits third in the Constructors’ standings on 220 points, with reigning Drivers’ champion Norris currently fifth in the table, 92 points behind Kimi Antonelli.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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