McLaren Chief Designer Rob Marshall says the team’s 2026 F1 car will likely remain similar from the Barcelona testing through to the opening round of the Formula 1 season in Australia.
Marshall said the atmosphere within McLaren remains positive as the team approaches its first on-track running. Though, this running will not come on the opening day of the Barcelona testing. Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed that the decision was long planned to prioritise additional development work on the MCL40.
“It’s a good time of year. Everyone and every team should be positive at this time of the year,” Marshall added.
Stable approach and long development cycle
Marshall outlined a stable approach to the car’s early evolution. He reflected on the lengthy development cycle behind McLaren’s 2026 F1 car and the scale of change introduced by the latest regulations.
“It’s been a long time in the making, probably the longest gestation period for a car I can remember,” Marshall said. “We started way back between Easter and summer ’24 when the regulations first started to coalesce.”
2026 F1 regulations create significant workload at McLaren
Marshall explained that while teams often describe cars as largely new, the 2026 reset is on a different scale entirely. Nearly everything has changed due to the new regulations.
“Normally the car is 65-70% new. This one is 95% new,” he said.
That level of change has dramatically increased the workload, particularly as staffing and timelines remain the same. Marshall said the biggest challenge for McLaren has been the sheer volume of physical parts.
“There’s so much more work for everyone to do and fitting that all in with the same number of people [and] the same amount of time has been the real challenge.”
Focus on learning, not early updates
Looking ahead to testing and the opening race in Melbourne, Marshall confirmed that McLaren will focus on stability over frequent updates.
“I think it’ll look pretty similar,” he said. “If anyone’s looking for rapid developments, they’ll be a bit disappointed.”
Instead, McLaren aim to maximise learning from a consistent baseline.
“Our plan is to get the best car we can before testing and learn as much as we can from a stable platform,” Marshall concluded.
As McLaren prepare for the Australian Grand Prix, Rob Marshall’s comments underline a cautious but confident approach. McLaren is prioritising understanding over early exposure as Formula 1 enters a new technical era.
