McLaren has won twice at Zandvoort – now its unusual rear wing could make it three. McLaren targets third straight Zandvoort win after Hungary victory.

McLaren has confirmed further MCL40 upgrades for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort as the team targets a third consecutive victory at the North Sea circuit. After claiming its first win of the season in Hungary immediately before the summer break, the Woking team wants to take another step forward with the competitiveness of its Formula 1 car.

Lando Norris’s dominant victory in Budapest was aided by a significant upgrade package that included McLaren’s version of the so-called Macarena rear wing. At Zandvoort, the team appears ready to race the rotating solution for the first time, with the latest changes focused on the rear of the MCL40.

McLaren Zandvoort upgrades target the MCL40’s rear end

McLaren will introduce further components as part of its continuous development programme. The new parts will focus on the rear of the car and complete the package presented in Hungary, including a new rear wing and revised rear brake ducts. The objective is to validate the components quickly, understand their contribution throughout the weekend and maximise every available opportunity.

The additions represent another stage in McLaren’s broader MCL40 development programme, although the team will still need to establish whether the new specification delivers the expected improvement under competitive conditions.

Neil Houldey expects close fight at Zandvoort

“We arrive at the Zandvoort weekend after finishing the final race before the break with a victory and a strong performance, but we are very aware of how close the competition is and how important reliability will be,” said McLaren technical director for engineering Neil Houldey. “We learned a great deal during the first half of the season about how this car needs to be driven to extract performance and how to mitigate the issues we faced at the beginning of the year.”

“We have also worked intensively as a team on continuous development, with several components available this weekend focusing on the rear of the car. They complete the package introduced in Hungary with a new rear wing and new rear brake ducts. However, we know the other teams will also bring upgrades.

“It will therefore be another demanding event, and our attention is focused on extracting the maximum from the car. If we execute the weekend well, we can put ourselves in contention with the leading teams.”

Neil Houldey added: “We are looking forward to racing again after the break. We are entering an extremely demanding second half of the season and, with 12 races still to contest, the team remains firmly focused on our development and performance. We want to build on the work completed during the first half of the year and achieve greater consistency in extracting performance from the MCL40.”

McLaren chases third consecutive Dutch Grand Prix victory

McLaren has won the past two editions of the Dutch Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri triumphed at Zandvoort in 2025, while Lando Norris defeated home favourite Max Verstappen in the 2024 race. Another victory would complete a Zandvoort hat-trick and confirm that McLaren’s Hungary breakthrough can be sustained against Formula 1’s leading teams.