During the last race in Hungary, we saw McLaren bring in a update to the MCL40 that allowed both the drivers to run in the top 2 through most of the race. While the team did have the pace, they did also have some internal conflicts that have brought some past instances to light once again.
During the race, Piastri was leading from the beginning until the very last stint. Right after his final pit stop, with Lando yet to pit, Piastri came into contact with Carlos Sainz while trying to overlap the Spaniard. Sainz claimed to not have any idea that Piastri was behind him. Although there seemed to be no damage on Piastri's car, he had lost a lot of time due to the contact. Right after this incident, McLaren decided to call in Lando Norris who was able to pit and come out ahead of his teammate. Oscar was fuming on the radio, not just about Carlos Sainz, but also at McLaren for not allowing him to make up the time he lost during the incident.
Generally, the team is not expected to hand out any team orders after incidents such as this. But with McLaren, things are a bit more complicated. This goes back to last year's Italian GP.
The controversial incident in 2025 where McLaren favoured Lando Norris
During the 2025 Italian GP, McLaren were once again dominating like they were doing in Hungary 2026. When it came time to pit, Lando Norris faced an issue in the pits that allowed Piastri to take the lead. However, the team felt that it was fair to ask Oscar to give back the position and earn the lead with an overtake on his teammate as the pit incident was not Lando's fault. Piastri was understandably not happy about this, but did as asked by the team.
This year, McLaren found themselves in a similar situation, but elected not to ask Lando to do the same as what they had asked Piastri to do back during the 2025 Italian GP. Since the incident in Hungary 2025, the team has once again been facing accusations from fans about giving Lando more preference over Oscar. Norris went on to win the Hungarian GP by over 15 seconds. But the question remains, should McLaren have asked the reigning Champion to give the position back to his teammate?
The Hungarian GP showed that McLaren are finally back to their winning ways after falling behind at the start of the season. The team brought a new upgrade to the car last weekend which seems to have made a big difference. But there is also the possibility that the car performed well because it was more suited to the Hungaroring which is a high-downforce track. The team has always performed well on this track, having won the past 3 races on the track.
What can we expect from McLaren in the second half of the season?
Heading to the second half, it is clear that the Championship will be decided by who develops their car the best. While it seems as though McLaren are heading into the summer break on a high, they are still 159 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship. If the team are hoping to catch up to Mercedes, the target should be to win every race, which seems unlikely given how close the top 4 teams are to the top.
2026 Constructors’ Standings
Full table →| # | Constructor | Wins | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MercedesMER | 8 | 379 |
| 2 | FerrariFER | 2 | 307 |
| 3 | McLarenMCL | 1 | 220 |
| 4 | Red Bull RacingRAC | 0 | 177 |
Lando Norris is currently 91 points behind championship leader, Kimi Antonelli. As it stands, it seems unlikely that he will be able to catch up the leader. With potentially 12 more races to go, Lando will need Kimi Antonelli to have multiple DNFs with the McLaren driver winning to stand a chance at the title.
2026 Drivers’ Standings
Full table →| # | Driver | Team | Wins | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kimi AntonelliANT | Mercedes | 6 | 219 |
| 2 |  Lewis HamiltonHAM | Ferrari | 1 | 169 |
| 3 |  George RussellRUS | Mercedes | 2 | 160 |
| 4 |  Charles LeclercLEC | Ferrari | 1 | 138 |
| 5 |  Lando NorrisNOR | McLaren | 1 | 128 |
We are yet to see how the MCL40 performs on tracks of a different nature, such as Monza, Azerbaijan, etc. The next race will be at the Circuit Zandvoort, which will also require a high downforce setup. So we could see McLaren perform well there as well. But the real challenge will come in the race after in Monza. Monza is built only for one thing: Speed. It will be interesting to see how the car performs there.
