Andrea Stella has confirmed McLaren will arrive in Mexico this weekend with next to no upgrades for the MCL40, with the team's next meaningful package not landing until Brazil and Las Vegas.
It marks a striking turnaround for the reigning constructors' champions, who have slipped to fourth in the standings on 355 points, level with Red Bull and now adrift of both Ferrari and a rampant Mercedes.
McLaren's current slump is a sharp contrast to the form the team showed around the summer break, when Lando Norris dominated in Hungary, won again in Zandvoort and was cruising to a third straight victory in Madrid before an untimely virtual safety car period cost him the win.
Since the F1 drivers' champion's third at the Madring, McLaren has failed to reach the podium, with fourth and fifth place, for Norris and Oscar Piastri, respectively, in Singapore the best result from the past four rounds.
The Woking-based squad has endured a difficult 2026 campaign overall after going down to the wire in last year's drivers' championship fight between Norris and Piastri and Max Verstappen, and old tensions resurfaced recently after its two drivers collided while battling for fourth in the Singapore sprint.
McLaren then applied team orders in Austin, instructing Piastri to cede track position to Norris early in the race, something that was also a cause of friction last year.
Asked about the upgrade plan for the remainder of the season, as the McLaren looks to thrust itself back into contention for podiums and wins, Stella detailed the steps already taken and what is still to come.
"In Baku, we took [new] brake ducts... There will be some more stuff coming," Stella told media, including RacingNews365.
"Ultimately, we will only be able to do so across Brazil and Las Vegas. So in Mexico, there won't be very much, but in Brazil and Las Vegas there will be some upgrades.
"Hopefully, this will help us to be consistently in the fight for podiums and hopefully start to lean on the level of competitiveness that is required to fight for the victory.
"So there are a few upgrades that are still in the pipeline."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the United States GP and look ahead to Mexico City! Red Bull's return of gearbox gremlins is a lead discussion, as is Kimi Antonelli being just days away from becoming world champion.
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