20/08/2025 13:35
When discussing the competitiveness of a car as dominant as the
McLaren MCL39, it is common to ask what upgrades have propelled the
machine to become the F1 benchmark. It is usually down to the
combination of original design characteristics and subsequent
upgrades, and it is important to stress that as far as McLaren is
concerned, success is not built overnight, but a long process which
has laid the foundations for the engineers to build upon. This
premise is necessary to effectively put a date on when McLaren
started towards building the best car on the grid, which comes with
the upgrade introduced at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix. That
upgrade focused on the vehicle dynamics, a different front
suspension geometry and aerodynamics, with a further development to
the underbody and wings being completed next time out at
Silverstone. Later in 2023, a further upgrade to the MCL60 was
introduced in Singapore, with new sidepod inlets which effectively
increased the area underneath, a feature retained on the
title-winning 2024 MCL38. The article continues below. The Miami
upgrade But this only began to show an increase in performance at
the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, which targeted the underbody and wings
once again. Starting from the front-wing, the outwash effect of
the airflow was increased to optimise the lower flows in the
central section of the floor. Aeroelasticity is one area where
McLaren has been able to build a gap over its rival, both in terms
of the front and rear-wings, introduced in the United States and
Baku in 2024, respectively. That rear-wing in particular was
extremely effective in pushing the regulations with the invention
of the 'mini-DRS', but it wasn't just about 'tricks'. The article
continues below. Change in the details The arrival of Rob Marshall
from Red Bull in January 2024 unlocked new design and manufacturing
methodologies, but Marshall also brought the precious know-how that
had been lacking and guided Red Bull to its crushing 2023
campaign. This has been evident on the MCL39 since the beginning
of 2025, with an extreme front suspension set-up, which is
effective as it is impossible for rivals to copy in-season. This
element, characterised by a very high angle of the upper wishbone,
could become a common feature on many 2026 cars. One upgrade in
particular, which must be considered successful on the MCL39,
concerns the upgrade introduced in Austria, where the geometry of
the front suspension's pull-rod was slightly modified. The linkage
that determines a different KINGPIN angle of the front wheels was
modified as the turning radius increased. Essentially, the tweak
was to provide Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with great
sensitivity in the front-end on initial corner entry. This is the
upgrade which provided the 'split' between Norris and Piastri, with
the former taking the new upgrade whilst Piastri stayed with the
older configuration, finding it more suited to his driving style.
Across the 2025 season, most of the interventions on the MCL39 made
by McLaren have been on dynamics as opposed to pure aerodynamic
ones. The car was derived from the previous concepts of wing
elasticity, with a new front-wing design being introduced at Imola
in response to the Spanish GP clampdown from the FIA on flexi-wing,
and the new design did not compromise performance.
