Zak Brown issues major McLaren upgrades declaration

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has declared that McLaren will introduce just as many upgrades as Ferrari by the end of the season.

The Woking-based outfit has introduced the fewest new parts to its MCL40 compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, with some of its upgrades having been quickly removed because further work was required.

In Austria, McLaren outlined that it would introduce its own upside-down rear wing, joining Ferrari and Red Bull in adopting the innovation. However, ahead of first practice, it decided against introducing it because the part was not up to the standard it wanted.

It was also not trialled at the British Grand Prix, with many now looking to next weekend's Belgian Grand Prix to see if it will finally make its on-track debut.

Ferrari, in particular, has been a key talking point among the top teams because of the number of upgrades it has already introduced in 2026.

The Scuderia has fitted several major upgrade packages to the SF-26 across the opening nine rounds, putting it in a position to challenge Mercedes for race wins.

Brown believes Ferrari and Red Bull have both done an incredible job when it comes to upgrade development but insists that, while McLaren still needs to improve, it will introduce just as many new components.

Addressing the development rate of the top four teams, Brown said: "Ferrari and Red Bull have been very, very close. If you look at the [upgrades] list, and as Fred said, it doesn’t necessarily always give you a clear story, but I think Ferrari and Red Bull have done a fantastic job with their upgrades.

"Mercedes have done a fantastic job with their upgrades. We’re a little bit behind. I think it’s very early in the season to draw conclusions because you don’t know when everyone’s going to deploy their upgrades.

"So hopefully we’ll have as many as Ferrari has and you don’t know when their next one’s coming. So I think the whole story is a bit early in the year because, as Fred said, you deploy them when they’re ready. They got them ready earlier than ours.

"We have just as many upgrades coming, we just haven’t put them on the race car yet because they’re not quite at the level that we’d like it to be before we produce the parts. Clearly Ferrari and Red Bull have done a fantastic job."