The state of play at McLaren after three rounds of the 2026 season

The reigning World Champions have not had a dream start to their title defence, but there are signs McLaren are starting to recover some form in 2026 after Oscar Piastri delivered their first podium last time out in Japan. With Andrea Stella at the helm and Zak Brown overseeing things, the team have the structure in place to deliver success – but can they claim a third Constructors’ crown on the bounce?

How has the 2026 season gone so far?

To say 2026 did not get off to a great start for McLaren is a little bit of an understatement. Testing looked good for the team, with the papaya cars completing the most laps of anyone. Fitted with the impressive Mercedes engine, McLaren were expected to be right in the mix by many onlookers.

Oscar Piastri was the pick of their two drivers in Australia, and indeed seems to have adjusted to the rules the better of the duo, having out-qualified Lando Norris for all three Grands Prix so far this season, Norris only ahead in Shanghai in the Sprint.

But Piastri could not turn his grid slot into points at his home race, crashing under his own steam in dry conditions on his way to the grid. That was chastening for the driver and the team, as was Norris being off the pace of the Mercedes and Ferrari cars and coming home a distant fifth.

China saw both drivers drop one place from their starting slots in the Sprint, Piastri coming home sixth and Norris fourth. The race was then nothing short of a disaster, with both cars pushed off the grid before lights out with differing electrical issues.

That left Piastri headed to Japan having yet to start a Grand Prix. But the Australian put in his best qualifying performance of the season with third, and converted that to the lead of the race in the early stages before coming home second.

Norris was fifth, but at least McLaren showed that, on the right track in the right circumstances, Mercedes will not have it all their own way this year. Piastri’s podium was the first time the Silver Arrows had not finished 1-2 in a Grand Prix, and while it does not jump them ahead of Ferrari in the standings, it shows the papaya team are headed in the right direction.

Reasons to be hopeful

There are many reasons why McLaren can never be discounted these days. In 2024, they brought the best mid-season development package of the field, which turned Norris into a title contender and helped the team take the Constructors’ crown.

As such, their team of engineers can normally be relied upon to develop in a good direction. And the more McLaren learn and understand about that Mercedes power unit, the stronger they will be.

McLaren still boast one of the strongest driver line-ups too, with Norris riding high off the back of his first Championship, and Piastri bouncing back from the disappointment of losing out last year admirably.

The way the Australian has also bounced back from the two DNS results with a podium drive at Suzuka speaks of his mental strength too.

Reasons to be cautious

Stella has already said the team do not have the same understanding of the power unit as Mercedes, and thus cannot exploit it as fully as their rivals. They might get there, but in the time it takes to do so, the Silver Arrows might be out of reach.

Piastri did get off the line better than Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in Japan and, while he kept Russell at bay, he could not pull a gap to his rival the way Mercedes have been able to in clean air in that opening stint.

While the Safety Car prevented the race playing out to see what would have happened between Piastri and the two Mercedes cars, the suspicion is he would have still finished second.

And it is not just Mercedes who McLaren are up against this year – Ferrari have been strong at all three races too, with both drivers in the mix, which means two more cars to knock Piastri and Norris down the order into the lower points paying positions.

What have the drivers and team bosses said?

Stella admitted in the wake of Japan that the team “surprised” themselves by being in the mix to win the race.

“I think if we want to be in this condition in the future consistently, we will have to improve the chassis by a few tenths of a second,” he said. “And that’s the aim that we have in relation to bringing upgrades to the coming races.”

Stella added that while Mercedes and Ferrari have “better performance” than McLaren right now, the team do have this spring break to work on that. He’s already explained that the Woking-based squad are set to bring a “completely new” car to Miami.

As for Piastri, he was just relieved to finally see the starting lights in Suzuka, calling the race “interesting.” But he did also say McLaren need to find more performance, although they “did a really good job of executing with what we had” in Japan.

Norris sounded happier, calling the last race “a strong day for the team with many positives.”

“We’ve clearly made significant progress with our power unit deployment,” the World Champion said. “It’s a sign we’re heading in the right direction. We’ll head back to the factory now and put some work in over this extended gap in racing and focus on coming back in Miami in the best shape possible.”

What do McLaren need to work on going forwards?

McLaren need to fully understand that Mercedes power unit if they are to take the fight to the Silver Arrows this year, which means working closely with HPP and analysing their own data as best they can, knowing they are already playing catch up.

Stella has highlighted the chassis as an area that needs work, believing on that alone they are still the third-best team behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

Helping Norris get the best out of this generation of cars will also be key to their fight to retain their Constructors’ crown, which will mean sharing Piastri’s data to see where the Australian is managing to better exploit the package.

Norris’ fight with Lewis Hamilton in Japan showed his race craft is sharp, so all he needs is a bit of a ‘boost’ to get on his team mate’s pace.