McLaren is openly studying how Ferrari managed to churn out such a high volume of upgrades through the first half of 2026. The Scuderia's development pace—both in design and manufacturing turnaround—has impressed rivals enough that McLaren's engineering technical director Neil Houldey called it "inspirational" and admitted the Woking team is examining its own processes to keep up.
Ferrari and Red Bull led the upgrade war after the new regulations landed, bringing enough performance to start stealing wins from an initially dominant Mercedes. McLaren has kept pace with improvements of its own and plans at least one more package for Zandvoort in August, but Houldey acknowledged Ferrari's sheer output stands out. "How they turned around this stuff so quickly, it's an inspiration for us," he said.
McLaren won't pivot to 2027 early. The team plans to develop deep into the season, banking that lessons from this year's car will carry forward even with a longer wheelbase and revised suspension coming. The development war runs through summer.
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