McLaren defends early 2025 development switch amid F1 2026 push

McLaren hopes its decision to stop development early in 2025 to focus on the all-new 2026 challenger, the MCL40, will prove to be the right call as the team was worried about going into the new season “slower” if it had continued.

Last season, already seemingly on track for the Constructors’ title and the 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings, McLaren brought its final big upgrade to the British Grand Prix, round 12 of the 24-race championship.

McLaren: When we get to 2026, hopefully, that will be proved

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Although there were tweaks to come with a Monza wing and floor, those were more track-specific than upgrades to the car.

It opened the door for Red Bull, and notably Max Verstappen, to launch a fight-back as Red Bull continued to develop the RB21, even bringing a new floor to the Mexican Grand Prix, round 20.

It meant Verstappen was able to erode McLaren’s early-season advantage, eating into first Oscar Piastri’s lead and then Lando Norris’.

He overturned a 104 deficit to Piastri to finish 11 points clear of the Australian driver, and only two points behind Norris having won six of the final nine grands prix.

But while McLaren’s decision could’ve been very costly, the team’s engineering technical director Neil Houldley believes it is one the team had to risk to avoid entering 2026 “slower”.

After all, the Woking team, having won the Constructors’ Championship in 2024 and again in 2025, has less Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions time than any of its rivals.

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“If we had continued to develop in 2025, we would have certainly gone into 2026 slower than we’re going to,” Houldley said as per RacingNews365.

“We were looking for milliseconds; 30 milliseconds was a good upgrade at that point, so when you get to that sort of level, it was clear for us at the time [to stop development].

“Other teams continued their development, and it certainly gave Red Bull some great gains towards the end of the year, but I still think we’ve made the right decision, and when we get to 2026, hopefully, that will be proved.”

It’s a sentiment that echoes that of team principal Andrea Stella.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets last year, the Italian said he had no regrets about halting development early as McLaren didn’t want to compromise its 2026 car.

“The 2026 project would be heavily compromised,” Stella said. “We have been very considerate in the timing of switching our full resources to 2026.

“From an aerodynamic point of view, our car was already quite mature. It takes weeks for us to add one point of aerodynamic efficiency because we were at a plateau in our aerodynamic development.

“On the 2026 car, every week we add a lot of downforce. So that’s where, with the best information you have available, you have to make a call. We were so much in the diminishing returns, we needed to be realistic and shift our attention to 2026.”

“We also don’t have to forget that by being the champions, we are the most restricted by the regulations in terms of the wind tunnel and CFD allowance. So it’s not like we have an unlimited amount of resources that we can use,” Stella added.

McLaren will get its first indication as to whether losing the 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship to Red Bull was worth it when testing begins in late January.

Formula 1 will host the first group test with the new cars beginning January 26th in a behind-closed-doors outing before the teams will head to Bahrain for the first open test with media and fans able to see the cars in action. That runs from 11 to 13 February with a second Bahrain outing from 18 to 20 February.

The F1 2026 season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.

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