McLaren engineers know their ‘extreme’ MCL40 decision is holding Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri back

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McLaren know they will not stop holding Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri back until the team finally understand why having a shorter wheelbase causes them so many issues.

The papaya squad entered the 2026 F1 season on a high after winning the constructors’ title in 2024 and 2025. Norris also won the drivers’ title for the first time in his career in 2025, as he fended off the challenge that teammate Piastri and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen posed.

Yet 2026 marked a huge year of change for F1, and McLaren have not adapted as well to the regulatory changes as Mercedes and Ferrari have. McLaren will go to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix just third in the teams’ standings and they have 154 fewer points than Mercedes.

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McLaren are still scratching their heads about the MCL40’s shorter wheelbase

Such have been McLaren’s problems in 2026 that Norris asked “Do I even have a rear wing?” during the British Grand Prix last time out, as the 26-year-old continually felt uneasy around Silverstone. But McLaren’s woes extend beyond their rear wing and to the car’s foundations.

READ MORE: Ranking every driver to win the F1 title for McLaren, including Lando Norris

That is according to RacingNews365, which reports that McLaren’s engineers are still having problems understanding why designing the MCL40 with an ‘extremely’ short wheelbase has directly helped to cause Norris and Piastri’s unpredictable results from one race to the next.

McLaren have one of the shortest wheelbases among the 2026 F1 grid, but they have yet to figure out why the car’s behaviour changes so much between races. The challenges that the wheelbase has given McLaren have even meant that bringing updates has proven very hard.

Thus, McLaren’s engineers have adopted a clear stance that only once they finally figure out their wheelbase will they be able to provide Norris and Piastri useful upgrades. For example, McLaren shelved introducing their Macarena rear wing before using it during FP1 in Austria.

After seeing Ferrari and Red Bull reveal revolutionary rear wing concepts, McLaren sought to design their own version and intended to debut it at the Austrian Grand Prix. Yet after fitting it onto Norris’ car, McLaren immediately spotted issues and are yet to revisit using the wing.

The fact that McLaren’s engineers believe their difficulties introducing upgrades and having consistent results are tied to the MCL40’s shorter wheelbase should also concern Norris and Piastri. McLaren made a fundamental decision for the foundations of their 2026 regulations car by favouring a shorter wheelbase and the issues it caused them were immediately clear.

After pre-season testing in Bahrain, reports soon emerged in March that McLaren sacrificed downforce in favour of having a shorter wheelbase. The Woking squad believed it would be helpful to have a shorter wheelbase than their rivals as it would give them a more agile car.

Yet the first few races of the season soon revealed that McLaren’s shorter wheelbase meant their lack of downforce was a big problem – especially when compared with how Mercedes flew out of the gates with a car that had a substantially more efficient aerodynamic concept.