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McLaren’s experience from 2025 will give them a major edge over Mercedes in the 2026 F1 season, according to Peter Windsor.
As McLaren look to defend their WCC crown for a second year in a row, a lot has been made about their performance in testing.
In particular, it was McLaren’s tyre management that became a major talking point, despite the improvements the MCL40 has shown over its predecessor.
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The struggles of both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri when it comes to tyre management during testing at Bahrain seemed to suggest this could be a problem.
However, McLaren’s track record from the previous years has inspired confidence that they will have an edge over Mercedes heading into the new season.
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Peter Windsor backs McLaren tyre management over Mercedes
Peter Windsor gave his thoughts on McLaren’s outlook heading into the 2026 season after what proved to be a difficult testing in Bahrain.
Despite their struggles, Windsor backed McLaren to hold an edge over Mercedes in tyre management, owing to their familiarity with the front multi-link setup.
“I see a lot of what we saw last year, particularly with the suspension. This is their second, in some respects, third year going with this suspension concept, where they don’t run a front lower wishbone. They run independent links and some very interesting steering geometries.
“I think McLaren should still hold some advantage, at least in the first part of the season, in tire management. The car looks every bit as good in terms of aero setup as the Mercedes.
“McLaren is slightly more interesting to look at in terms of concepts, but I don’t think that will make a huge difference between the two cars. McLaren will likely take the advantage there.
“From what we’ve seen so far, the Mercedes drivers seem quite happy with the switch to the front multi-link setup, which is one of the key things McLaren have had in terms of getting the tires to work across all tracks and temperatures.”
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McLaren’s familiarity with multi-link set-up crucial to advantage over Mercedes
While both Norris and Piastri had some complaints about the comfort, Windsor believes McLaren have had more time with the set-up than Mercedes to iron out the flaws, which in theory, should give their drivers more of an advantage.
“We know McLaren had some troubles with it last year. Initially, Lando didn’t like the steering feel, then they changed it, and it seemed Oscar didn’t like it. In theory, they should have got that working for both drivers this year.
“But will Mercedes and the other teams that have followed this front lower multi-link setup struggle with drivers not getting the steering feel they need? These cars are looking tricky to drive. If you haven’t got confidence in the steering feel, it can really eat away lap time.”
Testing is far from an ideal recreation of race environments, despite how vital it can be in preparing the drivers.
So Windsor could be right that, come the Australian GP, Mercedes’ drivers will struggle to navigate the multi-link setup that the McLaren drivers have had some time to get used to.
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