The one-two finish in the Miami Sprint Race by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri confirms that the technical team led by Rob Marshall has successfully closed the gap to Mercedes in terms of how to extract performance from the power unit. The MCL40 has effectively changed its character, allowing McLaren to take a significant step forward in overall competitiveness.
Miami has traditionally become a key starting point for McLaren in recent seasons. The Woking-based team secured the first victory for the MCL40 and achieved a dominant one-two finish in the Sprint Race with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri, breaking Mercedes’ early-season dominance across the first three rounds of the championship.
The team led by Andrea Stella brought a substantial aerodynamic upgrade package to the United States, which clearly enabled the papaya cars to take a major performance step. In reality, McLaren also learned from mistakes made at the start of the season, as the electronics department has now fully understood how to optimise energy management. This has led to very different operational choices compared to Mercedes despite running the same power unit, creating the impression that the customer team, at least in this event, made more effective decisions than the works outfit.
McLaren is once again dreaming big. The progress made in exploiting the Mercedes power unit, particularly in energy deployment and management, has revitalised the MCL40, which has also been supported by a large aerodynamic upgrade package. The modifications mainly focus on the floor, where the reigning world champions appear to have taken inspiration from a Ferrari concept.
The MCL40 introduced a major aerodynamic upgrade package in Florida, especially notable given that the car had remained largely unchanged from the Barcelona shakedown through to Suzuka. In Miami, it could be described as a half-new car, with McLaren introducing a revised front corner design. The airflow behaviour around the outside of the brake duct has been altered to improve efficiency with the front wing, which itself remains unchanged. The brake duct cooling elements have also been revised to better manage temperatures and reduce front tyre wear.
Peter Prodromou’s aerodynamic department has heavily revised the floor. The most visible change at the front section is the redesigned bargeboard area, with a vertical element reshaped to enhance the outwash effect and push airflow further away from the chassis. Images by Alex Galli also highlight the flow deviators along the floor edge, where McLaren, like Ferrari, has opted to connect vertical elements with horizontal vanes.
Moving towards the rear, another update can be seen ahead of the rear wheels. On the floor edge, the diagonal slot has been reduced, as three new upstream slots have been introduced instead. A small vertical fin has also appeared at the trailing edge of the floor. In this highly sensitive area for controlling tyre squirt, the floor has been slightly reprofiled, while the floor hole near the diffuser “elbow” has been significantly enlarged to better feed airflow into the diffuser and improve extraction.
The radiator inlet has also been revised, with a smaller intake section aimed at improving overall efficiency. In this area, there is also a redesigned mirror support, which is now less squared-off than before and helps better align airflow structures. With reduced airflow through the sidepods, additional hot air exit openings have been introduced.
On the engine cover, two vortex generators have been added to improve rear wing performance, which itself has been redesigned with the final element featuring an increased chord length. In addition, the rear wing endplates have been revised with new deflectors that push airflow upwards more effectively.
Another notable addition is a small “mini monkey seat” positioned beneath the exhaust. This is a profile element that does not extend beyond the exhaust tip, meaning it cannot be considered a full blown FTM-style system similar to the one introduced by Ferrari on the SF-26. There is only minimal exhaust blowing, but McLaren has clearly begun analysing this area for future development.
Completing the update package is a revised rear corner, featuring a different brake duct heat extraction layout and a redesigned cascade of flaps in the upper section relative to the rear axle. All these elements combined highlight a comprehensive aerodynamic evolution that has played a key role in McLaren’s strong performance in Miami.
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