McLaren brings brake and floor upgrades to Austin with Red Bull seven points back
McLaren is bringing an upgrade package for the MCL40 to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin for this Sunday's United States Grand Prix. It is described as modest, aimed at braking reliability and performance, with small floor changes to be tested as well. With McLaren third in the constructors' standings and only seven points ahead of fourth-placed Red Bull, Friday's two practice sessions could shape the final six rounds.
What is coming
McLaren technical chief Rob Marshall said: "We're bringing a modest selection of upgrades for this event, aimed at improving some braking reliability and performance issues." He added that "we also have some small floor changes to test." The floor geometry and brake specification have not been disclosed, there has been no claim of a lap-time gain, and the team has not said whether both drivers will run the same set-up.
McLaren will assess the parts in Friday's FP1 and FP2 before choosing the configuration for qualifying and the race. Austin has no sprint this year, so there is a third practice session on Saturday, which leaves a fair amount of running to evaluate them. Marshall also said that "Austin is probably a better circuit for our car."
Why it matters: a seven-point gap
According to RacingNews365 and Grande Premio, McLaren is third in the constructors' standings after Singapore on 339 points, behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Red Bull in fourth is seven points back. Grande Premio reported that McLaren once led Red Bull by 83 points (the 332-point figure for Red Bull is that outlet's; RacingNews365 arrived at the same number by calculation).
Recent form has been poor. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scored a combined 33 points across the Azerbaijan, Bahrain (Sepang) and Singapore triple-header. Norris retired in Baku, and neither McLaren finished in the top five at Sepang. In Singapore Norris was fourth and Piastri fifth, but the two collided in the sprint. Over the same stretch Red Bull's Max Verstappen won in Sepang and Singapore.
What Marshall and Stella said
Team principal Andrea Stella said the team takes "the lessons learned from both our performance and execution" from a difficult triple-header and will keep developing. Marshall said McLaren is "getting stronger again", and that the 2027 regulation changes are "quite modest", so most of the parts and philosophies on the current car stay relevant. The new parts therefore feed next year's development as well as this season's points race.
Schedule
In Austin local time, FP1 is Friday at 12:30, FP2 Friday at 16:00, FP3 Saturday at 12:30, qualifying Saturday at 16:00 and the race Sunday at 15:00 (CDT, UTC-5).