A hard-charging race at Spa-Francorchamps saw both Mastercard McLaren Formula 1 Team drivers advance from their starting positions, displaying strong pace to finish the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix in P5 and P7, respectively, for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
With the team showing encouraging pace throughout the weekend, both drivers demonstrated the potential to challenge at the front despite circumstances that ultimately limited their results. The team therefore leaves the race with positive signs of progress, building on recent developments and carrying strong momentum into the final race weekend before the summer break.
Lando produced an impressive recovery drive, displaying podium-contending pace despite starting from P13 with a 10-place grid penalty after exceeding the permitted number of allocated power electronics units.
Had the Number 1 car started in the grid position deserved on merit, and without the penalty and distributions out of his control experienced throughout the race, the British driver would have been firmly in the fight for a podium finish. Instead, an untimely Virtual Safety Car period, which did not favour his Hard-tyre opening strategy, alongside a technical problem in his pit stop, compounded the setback, restricting Lando to seventh place despite a highly competitive race performance.
Oscar also showed promising speed in the opening stages with a strong drive before his race was compromised by floor damage sustained following contact with Charles Leclerc. The damage cost him between two and three tenths per lap, while he was forced to push harder to maintain pace, which accelerated tyre degradation over the latter stages of each stint.
The Australian driver had made an excellent start from P6 on the grid, dodging a collision between Russell and Hamilton directly in front of him at the Les Combes chicane. He ended the first lap in P4, with the race neutralised behind a Safety Car. At the resumption, Oscar ended up taking the previously mentioned bodywork damage, which ultimately hampered his race. He subsequently slipped back to P5, passed by the other Ferrari of Hamilton.
While Oscar took the place back through his pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car - when he switched from Medium to Hard tyres, in common with the rest of the leading pack - the Ferraris passed him decisively for the position. Oscar was instructed to stay within five seconds of Hamilton at the Flag, as the latter was under investigation for an unsafe release, which eventually did not materialise into a penalty for the driver.
Lando's race was always going to be challenging. The team identified this as a good one to take the 10-place grid drop, as Spa presents genuine opportunities to make up ground. Lando did not hesitate to do so. On an alternate strategy to his teammate, Lando started the race on a Hard tyre, planning to go long. He was up to P10 when the race was neutralised behind the Safety Car on Lap 1 and then picked his way through the midfield when the race went green. He passed Gabriel Bortoleto on Lap 5, Franco Colapinto on Lap 7, Liam Lawson on Lap 9, and Arvid Lindblad on Lap 12.
With others around him choosing to box, Lando kept going, inheriting the lead as those on the Medium still running came into the pits. He gradually slipped back through the field, and made his stop on Lap 30, after being caught by Oscar. There was a technical problem with the rear-left during his stop for a Medium tyre, costing him a few seconds and leaving him in P8.
In hindsight, having seen Lando's pace on the Medium, it would have been better to double stack the two McLaren cars, even though he would have lost time being the second car into the box.
In the final stint of the race, Lando worked hard to again pass Bortoleto for P7 and set about chasing down an 11-second gap to Isack Hadjar. Lando set a string of 13 Fastest Laps in the chase, but came up just short, finishing an agonising 0.7s behind the French driver. Despite this disappointing end, Lando recorded his 20th career Fastest Lap with a time of 1m48.890s.
With further upgrades planned over the coming rounds, the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team are optimistic about its trajectory following encouraging signs since Silverstone. Attention now turns to Hungary and the Netherlands, where the leading teams are expected to remain particularly competitive. McLaren Mastercard's development focus is centred on improving braking performance and cornering capability, with the first elements arriving in Hungary and additional updates scheduled throughout the remainder of the season. The objective is clear: to consistently challenge for podiums and victories as the Championship enters its decisive phase.
Lando Norris: "Mixed feelings today. The potential was extremely high this weekend in terms of my feeling for the car and the pace being strong enough to probably challenge for a podium finish. I felt very confident with the balance and knew exactly what the car was going to do, which is a huge positive for us going forward.
"It's a slight shame about the result though everything that could have made our life difficult today, did. We were unlucky with the timing of the VSCs, which helped our rivals, and the unfortunate delay with a technical issue on the pit stop cost a significant amount of time which ultimately translates into track position and points. When you have the pace to achieve a great result but are held back by challenging factors like that, it's frustrating. We will now work to analyse what went wrong and learn from it before hitting track in Hungary."
Oscar Piastri: "We had good pace today, especially in the first stint, and the podium wasn't out of the question, which is a positive we can take away. However, it was certainly not a straightforward race for us. The damage we sustained after the contact with Charles Leclerc just made things much more difficult as we were losing a few tenths per lap. I struggled for the rest of that stint, and while we compensated a little for it in the second stint, the race was tougher than it needed to be.
"We definitely need a bit more performance as it feels like we're just that one step behind which isn't the easiest position to be in. We're looking ahead now, and hopefully the new upgrades we plan to bring will help us close that gap and compete more consistently. Let's see what we can do in Hungary."
Andrea Stella: "We leave this weekend with mixed feelings but are encouraged by the underlying pace shown. It's clear our package adapted better to this circuit, and our main objective is now to ensure we can keep improving, and we know this will require upgrades to our car. While the PU operated reliably and effectively, opportunities are still clearly possible in terms of PU exploitation, so we will keep on working with our partners at HPP to enable us to extract all of the lap time available. However, we leave Spa-Francorchamps with a smaller points haul than our potential.
"Lando was very solid today, and with a clean race, the car had the pace to contend for a podium. Without the penalty, the time we lost due to a technical issue in the pit stop, and a Safety Car timing that didn't suit our Hard tyre strategy, he would have been fighting at the front from his natural position of P3 on the grid. Oscar also drove very well and also had the potential to be on the podium, but the floor damage from the contact with Charles Leclerc cost us between two and three tenths of lap time, and forced him to push the tyres, which accelerated degradation in the second half of both stints.
"We know we must improve our braking and cornering to challenge our main opponents on tracks like Hungary and the Netherlands. We have upgrades coming for the second part of the season, and while not everything will be solved at once, our objective is clear - we want to consistently fight for podiums and, ultimately, victories."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.
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