United States GP: McLaren with upgrades for Austin race as reigning F1 champions bid to ward off Red Bull threat

22.10.2026, 08:28 skysports.com

McLaren will introduce further upgrades at the United States Grand Prix as they bid to improve their car's performance and stave off a resurgent Red Bull in the standings over the remainder of the season.

The reigning world champions continue to sit third in the Constructors' Championship with six rounds to go but fell into the clutches of fourth-placed Red Bull over the first of the end-of-season triple headers.

While McLaren failed to score a podium across that run of races, Red Bull claimed four top-three finishes - including two wins for Max Verstappen - to cut what had been a 76-point deficit to their rivals to just seven points.

McLaren's official pre-Austin preview described the team's results over the last three events as falling "significantly short of expectations" and that their 33-point haul in that run was "significantly lower than anticipated".

McLaren now head to a Circuit of the Americas track in Austin this weekend that they are hoping will be more suited to the strengths of their car, which will be boosted by some further revisions.

Rob Marshall, McLaren's chief technical officer, said: "We're bringing a modest selection of upgrades for this event, aimed at improving some braking reliability and performance issues. We also have some small floor changes to test.

"We have all seen how difficult it is to predict the relative performance of the top teams over the last five or six races.

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"Obviously, there are many factors in play here: cars being upgraded, cars suiting and drivers liking certain circuits among other factors. The last few races have not been great for us, but I think we're getting stronger again and Austin is probably a better circuit for our car.

"Practice will be important for correlating what we've seen in our development tools with the track.

"We are still learning how best to extract performance from this car. We have the full range of corner types here so getting the best balance for the whole lap will be our main focus."

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McLaren's cause in Singapore was not helped by them losing eight points on the final lap of the Sprint when their cars collided after Lando Norris attempted an overtake on Oscar Piastri. Norris later apologised for the accident, admitting it was ill-advised move on his team-mate at such a late stage of the short-form race.

The world champion said in the team's Austin preview that "I take responsibility for my mistakes, and I learn from them".

McLaren now return to the scene of a previous high-profile incident in Austin from 2025, when both their drivers crashed out on the first lap of the Sprint in a chain reaction set off by Piastri colliding with Nico Hulkenberg, and have little room for any similar missed opportunities 12 months on.

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Speaking on the post-Singapore GP edition of The F1 Show podcast, Sky Sports F1's Bernie Collins said: "McLaren have had a few incidents through the year where they have not maximised their points.

"[In Singapore] Max Verstappen maximised the result, McLaren did not and there have been several weekends where McLaren did not maximise the result. This accident [in the Sprint] was a silly example of it.

"Arguably, I think if Hadjar hadn't missed three races when Liam Lawson was in that car Red Bull would be ahead of McLaren. And that's what McLaren know, that they have been saved I think, at this stage, because Hadjar wasn't in that car for three races and [Red Bull] weren't scoring the points that they could have done.

"But now Red Bull are on the up and they need to up their game if they are going to survive in that P3 position because it doesn't look like it at the moment."

Karun Chandhok added: "I think they probably know they now have the fourth-fastest car, which is a bit of a concern, and Red Bull are probably now the fastest if not second-fastest car for most tracks."

Thursday October 226.25pm: F1 Academy Practice8pm: Drivers' Press Conference10.30pm: F1 Academy Qualifying11.10pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday October 236pm: United States Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 6.30pm)*8pm: The F1 Show9.45pm: United States Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)*11.50pm: F1 Academy Race 1*

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Saturday October 246.15pm: United States Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)8.30pm: United States Grand Prix Qualifying build-up*10pm: UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*12am: F1 Academy Race 2*12.45am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday October 255pm: F1 Academy Race 36.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction11pm: Ted's Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 heads to The Americas for another triple-header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime