McLaren is surprised by Ferrari’s development pace: How do they do it?

In the first year of the new generation of racing cars, one thing was clear: the learning curve for the GP teams with the new cars is steep, and the course of the World Championship will be significantly influenced by the new parts the teams bring to the track.

McLaren’s technical director, Neil Houldey, spoke during the Formula 1 summer break about the approach taken by the long-established British team, whilst also praising Ferrari’s rapid pace of development.

Houldey says: “I think we’ve done a pretty good job by introducing a lot of upgrades that have clearly improved the car’s performance. But if you look at our rivals, there are teams such as Ferrari who have done a truly fantastic job this year in driving development forward.”

Houldey admits that McLaren is asking itself: how is Ferrari doing it? After all, the Italians are operating under the same budget cap as all eleven teams.

“In terms of sheer scope, it really does look as though Ferrari have brought a great deal of new aerodynamic work to the track, and that’s something we need to look at and understand – namely, how they’ve achieved it.”

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“How they’ve managed to pull that off so quickly – that’s an inspiration for us to take a closer look and ask: ‘We performed well in terms of development in 2024 and 2025. How can we do better in 2026 and beyond?’”

“If you’re not making progress and constantly finding ways to get things done faster and more effectively, then you’re basically moving backwards. The 2026 season is a good lesson for us to see what other teams are capable of – and how we can implement that too.”