Friday at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix was encouraging for McLaren in performance terms, although the reliability problems the British team has faced since the start of the season continued. At the end of FP1, Oscar Piastri’s MCL40 suffered a hydraulic issue that required a gearbox replacement, causing the Australian driver to miss part of FP2.
McLaren did not bring a major upgrade package to Spa-Francorchamps, with a new package expected in Hungary, but the team did introduce a new low-downforce rear-wing specification. It was not, however, the rotating version that remains under development and still requires further work. The difficult start to the weekend also follows Lando Norris’s earlier Spa setback before the Belgian Grand Prix began.
Oscar Piastri said: “Overall, it was a decent day. Unfortunately, our entry to the track in FP2 was delayed because the team worked to resolve the cause of the hydraulic leak that emerged at the end of FP1. I thank the team for the effort they put in to solve the problem. However, we made good progress in FP2 and our pace seems reasonable. We are moving in the right direction and are in a good position to build on these results in tomorrow’s FP3 and qualifying.”
Lando Norris cautious despite competitive McLaren pace
The reigning world champion, Lando Norris, also addressed McLaren’s performance. “I think in terms of pace, in the end, we looked good over one lap. We looked fairly competitive, but there have been several occasions during the season where we looked good in FP2 and then were not up to it in qualifying. So, yes, today was mainly about completing our FP1 plan. It was not a flawless FP1.”
During the early stages of the first practice session, Lando Norris had to wait a few extra minutes before taking to the circuit. He explained: “We had some problems and some setbacks that did not allow us to leave the garage as quickly as we would have liked.”
Despite finishing second in FP2, Lando Norris remained sceptical about McLaren’s prospects for qualifying and the race due to the lack of significant developments. “We have changed practically nothing for this weekend, so there is no reason to expect anything different.”
On McLaren’s rivals, Lando Norris added: “Usually, Red Bull does not show itself on Friday. So we will get to tomorrow and they will be just as fast, if not faster. So we will wait and see. I think we have probably raised the level of our engine compared with Mercedes, while the others have not.” The comparison comes as Mercedes continues to refine its Spa package, including a W17 front-wing update for straight-line efficiency.
For those reasons, Lando Norris admitted that McLaren is probably still the fourth-fastest team. “So I think at the moment we are still probably the fourth fastest. But it seems that if we can do things properly, we could be a little closer than at Silverstone. So that is great.”
Neil Houldey targets McLaren energy management and reliability
McLaren technical director Neil Houldey gave his assessment after Friday’s running in Belgium. “We are quite pleased with the overall pace shown today and believe we are a little better than in the usual situation over the last few race weekends.”
However, Neil Houldey acknowledged that it was not an entirely smooth day, particularly because of the issue on Oscar Piastri’s MCL40. “The hydraulic problem on Oscar’s car was an obstacle, unfortunately causing him to lose valuable track time in FP2. It was a great effort from the team to complete the work as quickly as possible, so we thank them.”
On the low-downforce rear wing introduced at Spa, Neil Houldey said: “It worked as we hoped, which is another positive aspect to consider for the weekend.”
Finally, Neil Houldey outlined McLaren’s priorities for the remainder of the weekend. “Our main objective overnight will be to refine the energy-management strategy and ensure reliability so that we can maximise track time. We collected a lot of data from the various options tested today, but we know that the best is still to be found.” Those decisions will be especially important under the FIA’s energy-management challenge at Spa.
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