The Briefing: 2026 Dutch Grand Prix – Powered by Google Cloud

Welcome to The Briefing, where we’ll be answering the key on-track questions ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Each week, powered by Google Cloud, one of our trackside experts will join us to explain all of the weekend’s biggest talking points. This week, ahead of FP1, we spoke with Technical Director - Applied Engineering, Neil Houldey.

Like the Hungaroring, Circuit Zandvoort is a track where we’ve enjoyed considerable success over the past few seasons, with wins for Lando in 2024 and Oscar in 2025. However, it has some markedly different characteristics from the Budapest-based track.

Although both are considered high-downforce tracks, Circuit Zandvoort has a more old-school layout and is far more undulating than the Hungaroring, rising and falling like a rollercoaster. Zandvoort also features distinctive banked corners, most notably at Turns 3 and 14.

This weekend, we’ll be testing another set of upgrades, completing the package we introduced in Hungary with a new rear wing and revised rear brake ducts.

With Neil's help, we’ll explore what the upgrades could mean for the team this weekend, how we’ll tackle Zandvoort’s unique demands, and what role the weather could play across the Dutch Grand Prix.

More upgrades to the MCL40 this weekend. What's new on the car?

We are bringing some upgrades to this event, the biggest of which is a new rear wing. We expect it to deliver more downforce, and a little more efficiency than the previous versions – so it should be a good performance update. It’ll be our new, standard, rear wing.

Additionally, we have a small change to the back of the floor to help generate a little bit of extra load, and some small changes to the rear brake ducts. We also have new front wheel rims, to help us generate some tyre temperature, which will be useful at Zandvoort. These updates aren’t substantial in terms of lap time, but together it all helps us to be a little more competitive. The items aren’t linked as a package: they all provide aero performance as individual components and don’t need each other to perform.

Are these test items, or do you expect them to stay on the car for the rest of the weekend?

We think all of these components are, effectively, fit and forget. They’re the sort of thing that will add performance to the car, and we’ll keep running them through the weekend.

Why has this round of updates been staggered across Hungary and Zandvoort?

It’s simply when parts become available, we bring it to the first race we possibly can. The Hungary upgrade appeared in Hungary because that’s when it was ready; these components are ready – with suitable spares – this weekend. We’re not splitting packages through capacity: it’s just making sure we get everything circuit in the fastest possible way, for the earliest possible event.

Is there an element of risk in bringing a new rear wing to a Sprint event, where there is just the one Free Practice session?

The new wing is very similar in nature to the previous iterations – so the risk of bringing the new version here is relatively low. There are other parts of the car that we’d want a few practice sessions with, before committing to a race, but a rear wing generally isn’t one of those – so long as we have the quantities.

This isn’t a part we feel the need to run across multiple practice sessions to sign-off. The amount of lab work that we do back at the factory gives us a lot of confidence this is something you can fit for FP1 and run for the rest of the weekend.

Zandvoort is both windy and bumpy. Is there anything in setup we can do to counter the impact?

It could also be wet! Which is certainly a consideration too. Compared to the ground effect cars, this year there’s a little more room to adapt setup – but these cars do still have sensitivity to front and rear ride height, and you want to find the right place to run them.

Because it’s bumpy, we might run a little softer, and if we do run softer, we’ll need to lift the ride-height a little. Less so this season at the rear, but still at the front to make sure we don’t hit the deck too hard with the bib – both from the point of view of unsettling the car while grounding, but also from a skidwear perspective and staying legal.

The official forecast says ‘changeable’. If we were confident of rain, is there anything the team can do to prepare the car for that?

Looking at the forecast, there isn’t a high enough chance of rain for us to go with a wet setup. That said, I think, considering the bumpy nature of the circuit, if we are running a bit softer, that would suit wet conditions anyway. So no, I don’t think there'll be anything that we will be doing specifically to set up for the wet conditions. If there's a climatic condition change, it allows us to make cooling changes, including brake cooling – because obviously in the wet we need less cooling.

A wet session would be fascinating though, because we still haven’t had one. I think we’re all waiting for one, because there’s a lot to learn about what happens when we transition from dry to wet. The rules this year mean that in the wet, we won’t be activating the rear wing as often, so potentially we need to think about what we want to do with the front wing, potentially playing around with the front wing angle.

It’ll be interesting to see what goes on up and down the paddock when those changes happen. We've tried to be as prepared as we can from simulator runs… but it's never happened on circuit yet.