McLaren admits it is months behind rivals

McLaren has admitted it is still paying the price for last year’s title-winning campaign, with team boss Andrea Stella estimating the reigning world champions are now two to three months behind Mercedes and Ferrari in developing their 2026 car.

The Woking based outfit has struggled to match the pace of the leading teams under the new regulations, despite winning both world championships in 2025.

Stella says the deficit stems partly from McLaren continuing to develop its 2025 challenger deep into last season to secure those titles.

"During development, we took some conceptual directions that we now have to correct as we gain a better understanding of the new regulations," Stella told Auto Motor und Sport.

"We are now moving in a new direction."

The Italian estimates those necessary corrections have left McLaren around two to three months behind the current pace-setters.

The team hopes to begin recovering ground at Spa this weekend with a new rear wing, although the more radical ’Macarena’ concept has again been postponed.

"Our preparation has been meticulous, and we’ve done extensive simulation work to get ahead of what we know will be a very demanding weekend in terms of energy management," said technical director of applied engineering Neil Houldey.

"We’re arriving at Spa with a new rear wing assembly, an upgrade we had planned as part of the car’s development process."

McLaren, however, is not expecting an immediate turnaround.

"We are confident that this upgrade will bring a little more performance to our car, but we are fully aware that, after a difficult British GP - especially in terms of pure performance - even this race will not be easy, so we do not expect any major changes in terms of competitiveness," he added.

The Belgian GP will also mark the arrival of McLaren’s latest Mercedes engine specification after the team publicly questioned at Silverstone why it had not yet received the upgraded unit already being used by the factory Mercedes team.