The McLaren team principal confirmed after the United States Grand Prix that any remaining 2026 development will arrive at Interlagos on 8 November and in Las Vegas two weeks later, with the Mexico City round on 1 November getting little to no new parts.
Stella described the upgrades as a last push to return McLaren to the podium fight, telling gpblog that the team still had some upgrades to come in the final races and that he hoped they would help McLaren get consistently back among the top three.
That ambition says a lot about where McLaren are in the final stretch of the season. After Austin, the team sit fourth in the constructors’ standings, level with Red Bull on 355 points and well behind runaway leaders Mercedes on 607 and Ferrari on 474.
Piastri: “none of these upgrades” fix the real problem
Piastri, who finished seventh in Austin while Lando Norris came home fifth, was blunter about where McLaren stand against the field. The Australian told gpblog that it had been “a bit of a struggle in various different places” and that Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari all looked stronger on their recent upgrades.
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His verdict on the Brazil and Las Vegas parts was that they will not touch the issue he actually wants fixed.
“None of these upgrades are really making the car easier to drive, which is kind of our biggest problem,” he told gpblog.
A problem Stella says has to wait for 2027
Stella has already signalled that the drivability issue is a car-concept problem, not something a wing or floor update can fix mid-season. He has told Motorsport Week that the current McLaren “needs quite a lot of effort to deliver lap time” and requires a level of driving intensity far above last year’s car.
Stella added that he did “not expect that what’s coming to the car will improve this characteristic”, a straight admission that the final 2026 updates are aimed at outright pace, not at smoothing the handling that has cost Piastri repeatedly this year.
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The Australian is seventh in the drivers’ standings on 144 points, behind title leader Kimi Antonelli, whose 365-point total has him on the brink of becoming F1’s youngest world champion with five races left.
What is actually coming to Interlagos
McLaren’s last meaningful 2026 package is now scheduled to debut in the Interlagos sprint weekend on 8 November, with further parts for the Las Vegas street race on 22 November. Mexico City the weekend before gets effectively nothing.
The handling fix Piastri wants is not in the pipeline until the MCL41 arrives next year.
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