F1 TV pundit Alex Brundle has questioned whether McLaren’s latest Formula 1 upgrade package is already destined for the “bin”.
The Woking outfit arrived at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a big upgrade package. But the reigning champion suffered a pointless weekend.
2025 Formula 1 champion Lando Norris crashed in a Turn 1 incident at a safety car restart when Alpine’s Franco Colapinto locked up and collided with his team-mate Pierre Gasly, who in turn crashed into Norris. Oscar Piastri, who had been in contention for a podium finish, also suffered a lock-up which moved him towards the back of the pack and out of the points. The Australian finished 13th.
During an appearance on the F1 Nation podcast, Brundle argued that while a zero-points finish did not fairly represent the upgrades’ performance, the physical fragility of the new parts was a major concern.
“Zero points is, I don’t think, a fair assessment. It’s all about performance, not result.”
He added: “They’ve got a problem though, which is that if that upgrade is not structurally strong enough, you’ve seen them all weekend with the cracks in the floorboards on the side of the car.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Lando Norris was told again not to take the kerbs in the middle of the grand prix. So, if they brought an upgrade that maybe aerodynamically might help somewhere later in this season, but then they can’t run it because it’s not structurally strong enough to actually operate, that might be an upgrade in the bin.
“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 some upgrades that don’t work.”
McLaren currently sits third in the constructors’ championship with 306 points, behind championship leaders Mercedes with 538 points and Ferrari in second with 378 points.
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