At the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, McLaren found itself notably slower than Mercedes on the circuit’s long straights, despite both teams running Mercedes power units. This performance gap raised questions about the factors beyond engine power that influenced McLaren’s pace on one of the season’s most power-sensitive tracks.
Analysis following the qualifying and race sessions highlighted several key reasons behind McLaren’s straight-line speed deficit. While Mercedes maintained a clear advantage on power-sensitive circuits like Baku and Monza, McLaren’s MCL40 struggled particularly in low-speed corners, which are prevalent around the Baku street circuit. This limited the effectiveness of McLaren’s high-downforce upgrades and contributed to their overall slower lap times.
One significant technical difference was McLaren’s choice of shorter gear ratios compared to Mercedes. This setup decision compromised their top speed on the long straights of Baku. Neil Houldey, McLaren’s technical director, acknowledged that in hindsight, adjusting the gear ratios to be closer to Mercedes’ could have helped reduce the gap. However, McLaren opted not to use their one mid-season “joker” upgrade on gearing, focusing instead on other development areas. Additionally, McLaren’s aerodynamic efficiency on the straights was relatively poor, exposing them to further top-speed losses.
Performance differences were also evident between the drivers. George Russell outqualified Oscar Piastri by around 0.8 seconds, with Lando Norris further behind by approximately 1.1 seconds. These gaps were larger than expected given the shared power unit, indicating that factors beyond engine performance played a role. McLaren’s power unit optimization was reportedly better during qualifying than in the race, leading to some loss of performance over the course of the event.
Lando Norris faced additional challenges, including a fuel injection issue that affected power delivery during qualifying and intermittently in the race. He also struggled with tyre performance and driving inconsistencies, which compounded his difficulties. An incident involving Alpine’s Franco Colapinto further damaged Norris’s race prospects. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri made mistakes such as a notable lock-up, which cost him potential points.
Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, pointed out that the performance gap was due to multiple factors. These included aerodynamic drag, gearing choices, power unit optimization, and driver errors. The overall package limitations at Baku forced McLaren drivers into defensive roles rather than allowing them to attack, which hampered their race progress.
This analysis underlines how complex the performance equation is in Formula 1®, where sharing a power unit does not guarantee equal straight-line speed. McLaren’s experience in Baku reflects the challenges of balancing car setup, aerodynamic efficiency, and power unit deployment to suit specific circuits. The team’s reflections suggest that addressing gearing and aerodynamic efficiency could be key areas for improvement on power-sensitive tracks in the future.