F1 2026: McLaren's Title Defense Takes a Bigger Hit

McLaren needs this one-week F1 break to regroup, for sure. 

The reigning World Champions are coming off a sufferable triple-header in Asia, where they lost so much ground to their nearest rivals in the Teams' Standings. Red Bull has now trimmed its deficit to McLaren to only seven points. Suddenly, McLaren's third place is now in serious peril. 

How did we get here, and what are McLaren's plans to salvage their position in the remaining races? 

Early on, it was obvious that McLaren didn't optimize their setup under the new regulations. They trailed Mercedes and Ferrari for much of the first half of the season, up until the grid returned to the Hungaroring. 

During practice in Hungary, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri said that the car would perform much better here, and it sure did. His teammate Lando Norris converted pole position on Saturday into a dominant Sunday race victory, where he finished more than 15 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. 

Then, the summer break didn't dampen Norris's momentum, as he won the next race in Zandvoort. He took the checkered flag by more than 11 seconds over Mercedes driver and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

McLaren didn't win in the next two races in Monza and Madrid, but they still hauled a decent amount of points. 

Then, disaster struck in Baku.

McLaren would score zero points in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Piastri went off while fighting near the front, and Norris was innocently caught in a multi-car collision on the restart.

In the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, a poor tyre decision compromised both cars at the start. They started on slicks in wet conditions, forcing them to initially tumble to the back. The team scored only 10 points in Sepang, with Piastri and Norris finishing P6 and P9, respectively.

In Singapore, they actually produced a good amount of points in the main race on Sunday, as their two drivers finished fourth and fifth. But their collision during the final lap in the Sprint Race on Saturday cost them a lot of points. The incident forced Piastri to retire his car, while Norris had to settle for P8, or just one point.

Probably not. 

McLaren revealed that they have more upgrades for the remaining races, with the goal of "filling the gap" to the cars that are currently performing better, including Red Bull.

But it's still a challenging task. Max Verstappen and his car in peak form are always a scary combination for the rest of the grid. Plus, Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Isack Hadjar, is consistently scoring points when his car isn't having reliability issues. 

For now, McLaren should be focused on optimizing their upgrades and maximizing their points every weekend. But we won't be surprised if the reigning World Champions tumble to P4 in the Constructors' by the end of the year.