McLaren has unveiled the car tasked with mounting a successful Formula 1 title defence in 2026, as it unleashed renders of its new MCL40 in a testing livery ahead of the behind-closed-doors Barcelona test.
The Woking squad claimed both world championship titles last year and had sewn up the constructors’ championship as early as Singapore, well before Lando Norris clinched the drivers’ title in the Abu Dhabi finale.
The MCL40 has been presented in the black and silver livery McLaren will use for the Barcelona test; the team will then launch its full race livery ahead of the test days in Bahrain. It features a visibly drooped nose, plus ramped sidepods down the flanks of the car. McLaren has also reverted to a push-rod layout for its front suspension.
McLaren enters 2026 with title sponsorship from Mastercard, which can be seen with a marginally greater presence on the testing livery.
“There’s been so much work behind the design, the realisation, the build of the 2026 cars,” said Andrea Stella.
“What I can remember for me, it’s almost unprecedented, not only in terms of the changes themselves, because I think never before there’s been such a huge and simultaneous change of chassis, power unit and tyres.
“But even the sheer volume of redesigning that went through the last 20 months, I would say, at McLaren has been probably the biggest design or in general dealing with a new car project that I was a part of.
McLaren MCL40 livery
Photo by: McLaren
“This all makes it extremely interesting to see how the cars will perform, how the competitiveness order will be somehow mixed up. We are champions, but we don’t carry the being champions into ’26.
“Everyone will start from the starting blocks. Everyone will start from zero.”
McLaren will not run on the first day of testing at Barcelona, although teams can only run on three of the five available days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Stella explained that this was due to the team pursuing an ambitious design, and wanted to get its shakedown run done at the last possible moment.
“Our internal narrative is anything we will achieve, we will have to deserve it and we will have to earn it on the ground. So that’s our mindset, that’s our philosophy.
McLaren MCL40 livery
“This is why we’ve been ambitious with the 2026 car at the same time, because it’s such a level of redesign. You also have to be cautious to make sure that you actually have a car, that you realise it in time, that you build it in time.
“And so far, I have to say that our program is going on plan, something which obviously we are happy with and it gives me the chance to thank the entire team for having been able to realise the 2026 car. “
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– The Autosport.com Team
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