TECH WEEKLY: Inside McLaren's major upgrade that helped Norris to victory in Zandvoort


McLaren produced its first major aero upgrade since Miami and Lando Norris promptly defeated Max Verstappen’s Red Bull by over 20 seconds. However, McLaren were quick to point out that, while the upgrade seemed to correlate well with simulation, it was not in itself responsible for the increased gap over Red Bull.
The main part of the upgrade was a new high-downforce specification of rear wing and beam wing. “This wing gives us general efficiency gains, a bit more downforce, better slow-speed performance and a better DRS gain,” McLaren’s chief designer Rob Marshall explains.
Next Up
Related Articles
AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from FP2 in Japan
AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from FP1 in Japan
What the teams said – Friday in Japan
Follow Qualifying from Round 1 of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship
Norris rues ‘pretty bad day’ after FP2 issues in Japan
Hamilton explains why 2026 Ferrari suits him better
