McLaren to upgrade MCL40 F1 car at its bogey track Las Vegas

McLaren will introduce upgrades to its MCL40 at Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the new parts labelled as “the foundation for next year’s car”.

The team launched its 2027 front wing concept in Brazil, with team principal Andrea Stella describing it as an improvement for driveability and predictability; McLaren returned to form at Interlagos, with Lando Norris clinching pole position and victory in wet conditions. This ended a five-round podium-less streak, the squad’s worst since the first half of the 2023 campaign.

“After the upgrades in Hungary, it was encouraging that we were in a position to win – we should have won Madrid, really,” Stella said, referring to the unfortunate timing of the Virtual Safety Car in Spain, which likely cost Norris the victory at Madring.

“But after that, other people took upgrades and we lost this position. I think we also paid the price of not having had great qualifying sessions. It would have been interesting to see Lando starting from the front in races like Austin or Mexico; it would have been definitely a fight for podium.

“But it's thanks to these upgrades that we are now in condition to fight for the victory, combined with the conditions surely. And these upgrades, first of all, they will be complemented by some more parts that come in Vegas. And they form the foundation for what will be next year's car. So, it's encouraging for the trajectory of McLaren that we seem to be able to transform our development into performance on track.”

Las Vegas has not been a happy hunting ground for the papaya team. Back in 2023, McLaren had become a consistent podium contender, but both cars were out in Q1; Oscar Piastri scored a solitary point, while Lando Norris bottomed out and heavily crashed on lap three.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

The following year, the eventual constructors’ champion qualified just sixth and eighth, uneventfully driving to sixth and seventh in the race, 27 seconds adrift of the top five.

Last season, Norris did take pole; he and Piastri held on to second and fourth in the race as title rival Max Verstappen prevailed, but both cars were disqualified due to the MCL39s’ rearmost skid blocks being too worn.

Based on the MCL40’s specificities, Stella doesn’t necessarily expect the Nevadan track to favour McLaren this year, with full throttle down the near-2km Strip portion.

“It's a very different circuit layout, Vegas; long straights,” the Italian commented. “We know – we have seen this in Monza, we have seen this in Baku – that when the requirement is to develop top speed, not necessarily McLaren is the best car. We know that this also somehow relates to our [shorter] gear ratios that are not ideal when you need to go above a certain level of top speed.

“But having said that, we approach Vegas with some optimism because the car is faster now. This race will give us – and not [just] us but everyone, I think – a bit of understanding of how to use the tyres and where the car is good, where their car or our car is less good. So there's information to be capitalised for Vegas as well.

“So we look with some optimism. Also, Vegas, we want to go there and have a good result, because it's been probably, of all the races in the calendar, the one that we've been struggling the most. And even last year that we had a good race, we made our life bad with the problem that we had with the skid. We look forward to Vegas, have a good result there and finally be in peace with this venue.”