Last Updated on July 23 2025, 10:17 am
McLaren new upgrade favours Norris – The McLaren Formula One team head into the second half the the 2025 campaign with an unassailable lead in the constructor’s title race, but the battle between their drivers for the coveted first world championship is tight.
With wins for Norris at the last two outings in Austria and Silverstone, the gap is now just eight points in favour of the young Australian driver. Yet the secret to Norris rejuvenation was laid down in Canada where the team introduced a modified part to the MCL39’s front suspension.
Lando won just one Grand Prix across the first seven weekends, whilst team mate Oscar Piastri made hay with four victories in the same time span. Yet the Canada. upgrade, which only Norris has opted to use to date, appears to have given the driver more ‘feel’ on corner entry having complained the car felt “numb” earlier in the season.
McLaren test and withdraw upgrades
In fact had Norris not crashed into his team mate in closing stages of the Montreal Grand Prix, he would now be ahead of his team mate, by just two points. So tight is the battle between the pair, that any slight advantage for one or the other at this stage of the championship may go on to prove decisive.
Last time out in Silverstone, McLaren tested an upgrade in free practice one which they then shelved for the rest of the weekend. This practice of bringing an ‘upgrade’ but now using it utilises a later event in the year has been a feature of McLaren’s in season development during 2025.
“McLaren are going to debut new parts this weekend. They are not necessarily going to declare them because they tested them at Silverstone, so they are so advanced that they have the luxury of testing parts for later races,” says Diego Mejia to the Latina podcast.
“At Silverstone, they tested something they plan to introduce this weekend because Spa is a Sprint race and there’s only one free practice, so there is not much time to test. So they’ve already got a head start on their work at Silverstone, and that will surely allow them to maintain their lead.”
McLaren avoiding Ferrari errors
Following the first hour of practice at the British Grand Prix, team boss Andreas Stella revealed the sinking behind trialing of the new floor. “With the new floor in FP1, the plan was always going to be that the floor was a test floor,” Stella told assembled media.
“[It was to get an] early read of this new specification, because the next race is a Sprint event where it is more difficult to introduce a new specification, and make proper comparisons. We are actually pretty pleased with what we have seen in FP1. All the indications are leading us to introduce this new floor at upcoming events.”
McLaren have adopted this approach of testing various new components in an FP1 session, before removing it from the car for the rest of the weekend. This gives the engineers back at base time to analyse the data from the test and run a number of ‘driver in loop’ simulations which delivers a suite of set up options for when the part is deployed in anger.
During last season, Ferrari brought a big upgrade to their car in the early part of the European race schedule, but this was to prove an achilles heel as the performance of the SF-24 subsequently went south. The team recovered from this mis-step and launched an almighty comeback over the final six weekends of the year.
New floor for both cars in Spa
Such is the lead McLaren have over their rivals, they don’t need to take such risks and their test and then analysis approach has been paying dividends. Norris with his new preferred suspension was peerless at Silverstone, despite Verstappen claiming a last dash pole position.
When asked by Sky F1 about his expectations for Belgium and the upgraded McLaren floor, CEO Zak Brown replied: “Kind of more of the same. Maybe not a 32-second win, but more of the same, as far as how close it is, right?”
“This was a unique race because of the situation,” he added implying the weather conditions were a significant part in McLaren’s race dominance and the fact that Verstappen on pole had elected for a low downforce setup, which didn’t work on Sunday.
“The floor worked well, so we’ll be unwrapping that and throwing that on both cars. It was always intended to just be a test part this weekend, but we were happy with what we saw. So more to come,” concluded Brown.
Upgrade favoured Norris more
As with the suspension upgrade, the new floor has been designed to add stability to the MCL39, something Norris has struggled with more than his team mate Oscar Piastri. Its also believed Piastri has been encouraged to adopt the new front suspension, although his initial response was to remain with the car as it had been when he won the first five races of his F1 career.
Pisatri argues the difference between the suspension layouts was so small, he preferred to remain with the baseline he had been using all year, rather than confuse his attempts to setup the car by adding a new variable. For Norris the incremental feel he gets from the new layout is more important to him as a driver than it is for Piastri as he explained feedback through the steering wheel as “my most sensitive area”.
“There are obviously many other senses that when you’re in the car, you try to use and utilise and put them all together, whether it’s your vision and just feeling through your body and your legs, your feet,” the British driver added. “But always my understanding of where the grip lies comes through my hands and through the steering wheel.”
Whilst Piastri out qualified his team mate in Silverstone, both drivers failed to maximise their final runs allowing Max Verstappen to slip through and claim the front starting position for Sunday. In the race Piastri was handed a ten second penalty by the stewards, for erratic driving at a safety car restart, which ultimately handed his team mate the win.
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