‘The indication is we’ll be strong’ – Brown confident McLaren will be ‘competitive’ in 2026 amid ‘fascinating’ new rules

Zak Brown believes that the early signs indicate McLaren will be “competitive” in 2026, with the CEO also expecting that there could be some “fascinating” effects from this season’s new technical regulations.

While the papaya squad arrive into the campaign as the reigning champions in both titles – marking back-to-back Teams’ crowns following their 2024 triumph – the pecking order remains uncertain given the introduction of a rules reset.

However, following the Barcelona Shakedown, Brown feels that the team look in good shape for the season ahead – though cautioned that it is still too soon to predict what could happen.

“I think it’s very early days – very risky to judge [the Barcelona Shakedown],” Brown explained in a media session amid McLaren’s season launch on Monday.

“What I would say is we feel like we’ll be competitive. The top four teams all seemed very competitive, so very early days but the indication’s that we’ll be strong.

“But I think it would be premature to make any predictions beyond an initial few days of testing. Obviously things will start to become a little bit clearer over the next two weeks.”

Pushed for his thoughts on the driving aspect of the new cars following the regulation changes – with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having both gained their first mileage of the 2026 challenger in Barcelona – Brown responded: “I think the drivers like to drive the cars.

“Understanding the energy deployment and how to maximise a lap, I think it’s starting to become clear to the drivers how they’re going to race.

“I think until we get into racing conditions we ultimately won’t know, so I think, given that two weeks ago was a shakedown and get going, we need some more days under our belt to really understand how these cars are going to race best.

“As Lando said, it could get quite exciting because I do think you can get it right or you can get it wrong, and I think the consequences of getting it wrong, you could potentially be freight-trained if you run out of deployment in certain parts of the track, so it could be fascinating. We need to wait and see.”

McLaren’s drivers will next have the opportunity to experience the MCL40 when official pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain, with a first test taking place from February 11-13 before a second follows on February 18-20.