As the second half of the Formula 1 season approaches, the familiar dilemma resurfaces: at what point do teams shift focus from their 2026 challengers to next year’s car? According to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, the transition between the two projects will be “much smoother” this time around, given that teams are in the early development cycle of a fresh technical regulation set.
Through 11 completed rounds, teams are gradually turning their attention toward 2027. The Woking-based squad, for instance, introduced two substantial upgrade packages so far, at the Miami and Hungarian Grand Prix. Technical director of engineering Neil Houldey previously noted plans to introduce minor updates through to the Azerbaijan GP, where the papaya team intends to bring a more significant package that could define their development trajectory for the final stretch of the championship.
Stella himself previously outlined how McLaren plans to balance available wind tunnel testing time and budget cap constraints to refine the successor to the MCL40. Because the rule changes between 2026 and 2027 are relatively minor, the team boss explained that teams will enjoy greater flexibility without needing to build a concept from a blank sheet of paper.
“In a way, finding a middle ground between those two priorities is easier this year. Whereas in 2025 we had to balance two extremes—pushing development to the limit to fight for the World Championship while simultaneously designing a car virtually from scratch—the transition between the two projects this year is much smoother, given that regulatory changes are relatively small,” Stella stated in an interview published on the team’s official website.
“We must keep in mind that this generation of cars remains in its infancy, both in terms of chassis and power unit; therefore, practically everything we continue learning in 2026 will carry over directly to next year. Naturally, we still need to strike the right balance under the budget cap, manage wind tunnel hours, run CFD simulations, and allocate resources between design and production, but I believe we are in a strong position across all those fronts,” he concluded.
Formula 1 is currently on summer break. The series resumes 2026 season action from August 21 to 23 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
