Alex Brundle, F1 TV pundit, has questioned whether McLaren's latest Formula 1 upgrade package is already destined for the bin. The remarks came after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri endured a pointless Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
McLaren arrived in Baku with a substantial upgrade package. But the reigning champions suffered a disastrous weekend. Norris was caught in a Turn 1 incident at a safety car restart when Alpine's Franco Colapinto locked up and collided with his teammate Pierre Gasly, who then hit Norris. Piastri, who had been in contention for a podium, also suffered a lock-up that dropped him to the back and out of the points, finishing 13th.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Brundle argued that the zero-points finish did not fairly represent the upgrades' performance. "Zero points is not a fair assessment. It's all about performance, not result," he said. However, he highlighted structural issues that emerged throughout the weekend. "They've got a problem: if that upgrade is not structurally strong enough, you've seen cracks in the floorboards on the side of the car all weekend," Brundle added.
Brundle also revealed that Norris was again told not to take the kerbs in the middle of the grand prix. This raises concerns that an upgrade that might be aerodynamically beneficial elsewhere could be unusable due to structural limitations. "That might be an upgrade in the bin," he stated. "There is no bigger disaster in 2026 Formula 1 than spending a ton of money in wind tunnel time, especially when you're the reigning champions, on upgrades that don't work."
McLaren currently sits third in the constructors' championship with 306 points, behind leaders Mercedes with 538 and Ferrari with 378. The gap is a wake-up call for the Woking-based team. If the upgrade cannot be run as intended, they risk falling further behind in the title race.
The Azerbaijan failure is a major blow for McLaren as they try to close the gap. With a long season ahead, the team must quickly find a solution to the structural weaknesses in their upgrade package. Otherwise, their pursuit of Mercedes and Ferrari could be in vain.
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