There’s nothing new under the sun—or so they say—but the all-new F1 2026 regulations have seen a number of ‘first-time’ innovations never before seen in the sport. First up during testing, Ferrari dazzled the paddock with its ‘Macarena’ wing, which flipped through 180 degrees from a high-downforce configuration to a low-drag straight-line mode.
When variable aerodynamics were banned ahead of Monaco, a number of teams, including Red Bull and Mercedes, tinkered with their rear wings, replacing the activator with a variety of small winglets to improve downforce.
Ferrari’s Fast Starts and McLaren’s Early Slump
As the 2026 season opened in Australia, Ferrari clearly possessed a standing-start mechanism that was well advanced compared to the rest of the field. The fast-starting Ferraris became the talk of the paddock as they leapt ahead of the dominant Mercedes when the lights went out on Sunday.
Surprisingly, reigning world champions McLaren were nowhere to be found after dominating in 2025. They claimed a mere 18 points from their drivers’ first four starts before the beginnings of a recovery became evident in Japan.
The Miami Turnaround and the Canada Setback
With the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix cancelled, the Woking-based squad had five weeks to figure out how they could improve their car. Come Miami, the team brought a raft of upgrades to the MCL40, and the transformation was remarkable as the team delivered a 1-2 finish in the Sprint.
While Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, Lando Norris harried him all the way, finishing just over three seconds behind what had previously been a walk in the park for the Silver Arrows. Next up in Canada came part two of McLaren’s planned upgrades, which included an all-new front wing.
The new front wing component was shelved after disappointing results in practice and was absent from Monaco as the team worked on revisions behind the scenes. Clearly, the Woking-based squad’s correlation tools are working well, because the front wing reappeared last time out in Spain.
The Barcelona Masterstroke
Lando Norris went on to secure the team’s first podium result since the Miami Grand Prix with a third-place finish at the Barcelona race, while Oscar Piastri made it a double points haul in fifth place.
The call to split the upgrades between Miami and Montreal was based on a stepped approach, where McLaren first brought new front and rear corner structures, modified bodywork and sidepod inlets, extra cooling louvers, a new floor, a revised bargeboard, and a new rear wing.
The front wing was central to the revised package as it is the first part of the car to hit the oncoming air, organizing the subsequent flow around the whole of the car. But in Canada, Norris—who was the best-placed McLaren—was a massive 1.4 seconds off the pace, which is why the team reverted to the older specification wing.
After further refinement, which included revising the front wing’s endplates, McLaren bolted the wing back onto the MCL40 in Barcelona, where the team recorded a double points haul with Norris on the podium.
Andrea Stella on Dialling In the MCL40
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella explained the process of dialing in the new component and how it performed at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya:
“The front wing is a project that took a couple of races to understand exactly how to use it, what it was delivering. We took a couple of modifications since the first time we introduced it, and these modifications were effective.
“We are happy now with the performance and the correlation of the data compared to the development tools. We used it on both cars, and we think that this has handed lap time.
“I would like to praise the effort of the team, who have been extremely responsive. Once we saw that there were a few things that needed to be made and needed to be designed and produced, and we did it for Monaco, and then there were a few more, and we did them for Spain.
“So I would say this completes the first round of upgrades of the car. We are obviously working on some more upgrades, but more than large packages, we will see a continuous development in the various areas of the car.
“The design itself, and this is true for everyone – We saw Ferrari having upgrades in Miami, and upgrades here – the design of the car for all teams is still so immature. And in a way so responsive to the basic development that you want to take these developments as soon as possible.”
The Long Road to Grid Convergence
Asked if McLaren, who in the previous two seasons didn’t put a foot wrong with its upgrades, could again find itself in a position where the new parts are tested on a Friday but not raced on the Sunday, Stella noted that the front wing was a unique case:
“No, I think what we saw with the front wing is that there were some aspects which were not only aerodynamic, but there were some other, from a mechanical point of view, that needed to be evolved, so we remain quite happy with the overall consistency of the aerodynamic development.
“This is the main source through which all teams will have lap time this year. I think this keeps being a point of strength. I see continuation with what we were doing last year. I think last years we were simply just clearer as to the direction as to what kind of geometries you need to pursue, and we have been very good in out developing everyone, all the other teams in pursuing this concept.
“At this stage instead, and I think again this is true for all teams, the rules are so new that you are still exploring various directions. You are seeing it on the front wing, I think we will see, or we have seen it already, from a bodywork point of view, if you see the area of the floor ahead of the rear tyres, you still see the things have not converged.
“So I think we will see convergence, but this may take another one year, possibly.”
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
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