StadiumPosts Logo
Stay upto date with notifications from Stadiumposts
Notifications can be managed in browser preferences

ROB MARSHALL DEFENDS MCLAREN’S SHIFT TO 2026 CAR AMID MAX VERSTAPPEN PRESSURE

McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall insists the team made the right strategic call to prioritise 2026 despite Verstappen's surge.

Rob Marshall defends McLaren’s shift to 2026 car amid Max Verstappen pressure
Will McLaren’s 2026 Strategy Pay Off at the First Test?

McLaren’s chief designer, Rob Marshall, isn’t having any of the talk that last year’s car fell behind because the team switched too soon to working on their 2026 challenger.

Last season, McLaren pretty much ran the show in the first half. They grabbed a second constructors’ title in a row, and Lando Norris finally got his world championship. But things got tense later on. Max Verstappen and Red Bull found something special, and suddenly, McLaren’s lead started to melt away.

Here’s what happened: McLaren felt so comfortable, they moved all their attention to the 2026 car before Red Bull did. Meanwhile, Red Bull kept working on their RB22, dropping big upgrades late in the season.

That decision hit hard. McLaren’s massive edge vanished, and Verstappen slashed his points gap from 104 to just two by the last few races.

People started asking if McLaren bailed on developing their 2025 car too early—maybe they should’ve stayed in the fight a bit longer before turning to the new engine rules.

Marshall doesn’t agree. He says the team made the right call for the end of this ground-effect era, and he’s sticking to it.

Talking to reporters, Marshall put it simply: “At some point, you have to wrap up work on the current car and start thinking about the new one. Sure, we did that a bit earlier than usual because of the rule changes. But we also started the new car’s work much earlier than we normally would, so a lot of the prep was already sorted.

“We did shift focus off last year’s car, yeah. But I don’t think it suffered. Honestly, the end of last season was pretty interesting.

“Maybe some teams pushed their 2025 cars longer than we did, but looking back, I think we made the right call.”

FRED VASSEUR SLAMS "ENOUGH WITH THIS STORY" OVER LEWIS HAMILTON’S ENGINEER DRAMA

Lewis Hamilton calls engineer change "detrimental." Get the latest on Carlo Santi, Cedric Michel-Grosjean, and Vasseur's defense.

top-news
Lewis Hamilton Is Starting 2026 Without A Race Engineer

Lewis Hamilton heads into his second season with Ferrari, but he still doesn’t have a new race engineer lined up. Team boss Fred Vasseur doesn’t seem too worried, though. He brushed off the drama around Hamilton’s situation, saying it’s not really a big deal.

Last year, Hamilton worked alongside Ricardo Adami during his debut season with Ferrari, but they’ve already parted ways ahead of the 2026 season. Even though the new season’s just a couple of weeks away, Ferrari hasn’t named a permanent replacement.

People questioned how well Hamilton and Adami actually communicated last season, especially when Hamilton’s frustration came through on team radio. Now, with Hamilton needing to build a new working relationship, Vasseur insists it’s not creating any bad vibes.

“That’s not exactly what’s happening,” Vasseur told reporters, including those from RacingNews365. “The teamwork between Lewis and everyone on the pit wall is really strong. He’s confident, he’s open, and honestly, I feel good about where things stand. The whole goal is just to keep getting better, day by day. If there’s something to improve, I’ll push for it, but Lewis is in a great mindset.”

During pre-season testing, Hamilton teamed up with Carlo Santi, who used to engineer for Kimi Raikkonen. Meanwhile, rumours are swirling that Ferrari wants to hire Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who just left McLaren, to take over as Hamilton’s race engineer. But Vasseur is clearly tired of the speculation.

When someone brought it up yet again, he cut them off. “Please, enough with this story,” he said. “Look around the paddock. Out of 22 cars, you’ll see six or seven new engineers every year; the same goes for team principals. Honestly, I’m probably the oldest one here, along with Toto Wolff. Teams swap out three or four team principals a year, and it’s not the end of the world.

“There are about 1,500 people in the team now. It’s never just about one race engineer. The person on the pit wall leads a whole group working on the car, so it’s not about individuals. In Formula 1, it’s always about the team. It never comes down to just one person.”

CHARLES LECLERC WARNS F1 OVERTAKING IS "EXTREMELY DIFFICULT" UNDER NEW 2026 REGULATIONS

Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon flagged "difficult" passing in 2026 testing. Discover why the 50/50 power split is a strategic nightmare.

top-news
What Charles Leclerc Really Means By "Costly" Overtakes In 2026

Charles Leclerc isn’t sugarcoating it: overtaking looks like a real challenge under the new regulations, and the cost of trying is way higher than before.

Max Verstappen kicked off the complaints about the rules, since now so much depends on how well drivers handle their battery levels. The big change is the 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and the battery. That’s forced drivers to rethink everything; they’re saving battery instead of just going flat out for speed.

We’ve just come out of an era where ground effect cars made overtaking tough because of all the dirty air, and honestly, it doesn’t sound like things are getting any easier. No one’s raced for points yet, but after testing in Bahrain, the mood in the paddock isn’t exactly upbeat.

Esteban Ocon was quick to sound the alarm. After following a few cars in testing, he noticed he lost a lot of front grip, maybe even more than last year. He tried the overtake mode but didn’t want to jump to conclusions too soon. Still, his gut feeling? Passing looks tough.

Leclerc agrees. He says he’s on the same page as the other drivers. Right now, overtaking is extremely hard. Maybe with time, as everyone learns how to manage these situations, it’ll get better. But at the moment, every overtake comes at a much steeper battery cost than before. That means even if you pull off a move, getting away from the car behind isn’t as simple as it was last year. It’s just tricky.

When asked about the new rules overall, Leclerc isn’t quite as downbeat as Verstappen, but he admits something’s missing. He’s always loved the aggressive, attacking style of the older F1 cars, and he feels like there’s less of that now. The changes are huge; everything feels completely different from what he’s known in his career. But he does see progress. The cars are getting better, and everyone’s still learning, trying to figure out all the new systems and how to squeeze out the best performance. There’s a lot of work ahead, but things are moving in the right direction.

Premier League Standings

WhatsApp Read More News