After back-to-back Constructors' titles, McLaren find themselves in rough waters under the new regulations.
After back-to-back Constructors' titles, McLaren find themselves in rough waters under the new regulations.
McLaren dominated the 2025 Formula One season, winning both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships. But surely, that chapter is already closed for the reigning champions.
Midway through the 2026 season, McLaren is lagging behind McLaren and Ferrari in the team standings. Reliability issues have been a major culprit for their losses, especially during the first couple of races.
Still, there are several positives to build on for the Papaya team. Let's look at McLaren's highest and lowest moments in the first 11 races of the 2026 F1 calendar.
The Highs
1. Lando Norris dominates in Hungary
Is there a better way to head into the summer break than starting from pole and winning the race? Lando Norris would like to say no.
Norris won the 2026 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, his first GP victory as the reigning World Champion. And he didn't just squeak by to get the win.
In a weekend where the Ferraris were expected to dominate, Norris stole the thunder. He started from pole, ahead of Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
His teammate, Oscar Piastri, did overtake Norris early and led the race. But after his second stop, Piastri made contact with Williams driver Carlos Sainz, forcing him to retire due to a gearbox issue.
From then on, Norris led and never looked back. He finished more than 15 seconds ahead of second-placer Max Verstappen.
The more positive takeaway: McLaren could've easily finished 1-2 if Piastri didn't get into an issue with Sainz. The winning pace was there for McLaren.
2. Their most productive weekend in Miami
After firing blanks in Australia and China, McLaren bounced back in Japan with Piastri finishing second. But that was just a glimpse.
The team brought more upgrades in Miami, and produced their best weekend of the season. They finished 1-2 in the Sprint race, and 2-3 in the main race. That gave McLaren 48 points across the weekend.
More importantly, this haul of points has given them enough cushion to stay ahead of Red Bull Racing in the team standings.
The Lows
1. The embarrassing start in China
Piastri and Norris qualified fifth and sixth for the Chinese Grand Prix, only to stay in the garage on Sunday. Separate technical problems hounded the two cars, ending McLaren's weekend with a double DNF.
Unfortunately, this was only the start of something wrong in the McLaren garage.
Which brings us to…
2. More reliability issues
So far, McLaren has the most DNFs among the top four teams in the standings. Take a look:
- McLaren: 6 (Norris 3, Piastri 3)
- Red Bull: 5 (Verstappen 3, Hadjar 2)
- Mercedes: 3 (Russell 2, Antonelli 1)
- Ferrari: 2 (Leclerc 2, Hamilton 0)
If they aren't able to chase Ferrari for second or fail to keep Red Bull behind, McLaren could look at these DNFs as the breaking points of their season.
What to watch in the second half
Did McLaren turn things around after Norris's dominant win in Hungary? You could overreact or not, but it looked like McLaren was finally capable of controlling a race.
This leads us back to early July when McLaren team principal Andrea Stella "confirmed a change of direction" in the team's upgrades. Stella projected Hungary as the race where they'll take the first step in this change. And truth be told, it happened.
McLaren is trailing Ferrari by 87 points for P2, and ahead by 43 points over Red Bull for P3. There's still a whole lot of racing to go. And this McLaren team is no stranger to turning their seasons around.
