McLaren
The team to beat heads into the reset with the grid's strongest young pairing.
McLaren enters 2026 as the benchmark of the previous era, having rebuilt itself from midfield strugglers into the reference team at the front. That turnaround, driven by a revitalised technical group and a settled management structure, makes the new regulations both an opportunity and a risk: the team has the most to lose if it gets the reset wrong, and the most to gain if it gets it right.
Its greatest asset is the cockpit. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri form arguably the strongest and most evenly matched line-up on the grid — two young drivers capable of winning races and, potentially, fighting each other for the title. Managing that rivalry while chasing a championship is the defining challenge of McLaren's season.