McLaren will introduce a significant package of upgrades at the Hungaroring, featuring a new floor and several aerodynamic novelties.
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McLaren hopes to make a breakthrough this weekend in Budapest. The British team has confirmed the arrival of a vast upgrade program for the MCL40 at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The core of this update is a new floor, accompanied by several aerodynamic modifications that will be evaluated during free practice.
A highly anticipated package
Woking engineers will test these new parts on Friday and Saturday to measure their benefits before the race.
In parallel, Leonardo Fornaroli will take the wheel of the MCL40 during the first free practice session in place of Oscar Piastri, allowing McLaren to fulfill the regulatory obligation to run a young driver.
The first session will also be used to test a new version of McLaren’s experimental rear wing.
This part was initially supposed to debut at the Austrian Grand Prix, but it never made it onto the track after failing technical checks carried out in the garage before the start of the session.
The wing was then sent back to Woking to be reworked.
McLaren specifies, however, that this element remains exclusively for testing and will not be used in competition, neither in Hungary nor at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Stella sees a turning point in development
Team Principal Andrea Stella believes these developments mark an important step in the MCL40’s development.
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“We now have a very clear development direction, but it has taken us a few months to materialize certain evolutions in several areas of the car.”
The Italian executive hopes that the first results will be visible this weekend.
“We should see the first effects of this new approach in Hungary, before the arrival of further developments throughout the rest of the season.”
Correcting the main weaknesses
McLaren acknowledges that the Hungaroring, like Zandvoort after the summer break, does not naturally suit the MCL40’s strengths.
These two circuits particularly emphasize braking and slow corners, two areas where the British single-seater still lacks performance.
The upgrades introduced in Hungary aim precisely to fill these gaps and allow McLaren to approach the second half of the season with greater ambitions.
Currently third in the constructors’ championship with 195 points, the Woking team is 163 units behind Mercedes and 90 behind Ferrari. It hopes that this important update will allow it to gradually reduce this gap in the coming weeks.
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