What was “weird” about McLaren’s poor performance at rough Sepang

Outubro 6, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

The McLaren Formula 1 team is digging for reasons why it suffered such a disappointing weekend at Sepang, on a circuit that should have suited the MCL40.

On the back of a more difficult weekend on the streets of Baku despite the latest round of car upgrades, McLaren went to the second part of the triple-header with confidence the higher downforce demands in Malaysia should play to its strengths.

But on the abrasive Sepang tarmac, McLaren fell flat with F1’s fourth-fastest car over the weekend.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were six tenths off polesitter Max Verstappen as they qualified sixth and seventh. Following an unsuccessful gamble to start on slicks on a wet track, McLaren’s highest finisher was Piastri in sixth.

Even with a correct tyre call the papaya squad likely wouldn’t have troubled the frontrunners either, though. That downturn was extra puzzling after the team had been class-leading in Zandvoort and Madrid.

“We see a scenario in Formula 1 which seems to be changing pretty rapidly,” said team principal Andrea Stella when quizzed about his team’s lacklustre performance. “In Hungary we took some upgrades and we were in condition to have pole position in Hungary, Zandvoort. And then we were in condition to do pole position and pretty much victory in Madrid without the virtual safety car. And then very rapidly and interestingly as we took upgrades as well, the picture changes.

“We don’t see any anomaly in our data. But we have to acknowledge that potentially some competitors have developed their car with bigger steps than we did.”

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Srinivasa Krishnan

But Stella didn’t want to draw too many conclusions after one weekend racing on the toughest asphalt on the calendar, with Mercedes also struggling for performance despite a major upgrade package.

“We actually increased the potential of the car with the upgrades. It’s more the competitiveness on track that tells us that we seem to have lost some ground relative to the others,” he said.

“In Malaysia there are some conditions, even the tarmac conditions, that make the car operate in a weird way. Not only from a tyres point of view: I think we need to observe the car, the upgrades and the relative competitiveness in Singapore.”

McLaren is still expecting a number of smaller development items, which were signed off a while ago and are now going through production, to land on the car over the final leg of the season.

“There will be actually some more stuff coming for the final races,” Stella added. “So hopefully we will be able to make another step ourselves and be in condition once again to fight for podiums.”