Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will use the revised specification at Spa-Francorchamps, which was developed as a reliability upgrade following a series of failures earlier in the season.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli debuted the engine in the factory Mercedes cars in Austria before Alpine and Williams adopted it at Silverstone, leaving McLaren as the final Mercedes-powered customer to make the switch.
McLaren’s delay was not due to a lack of access to the new engine, with chief executive Zak Brown explaining before the British Grand Prix that the team still had usable mileage remaining on its existing pool of power units.
Earlier reliability issues had also complicated McLaren’s power unit allocation during the season, including separate battery failures that prevented both Norris and Piastri from starting the Chinese Grand Prix, while Norris also encountered a battery issue in Monaco.
Speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren technical director of applied engineering Neil Houldey confirmed the team would introduce the upgraded power unit alongside a new rear wing assembly.
“Our preparation has been thorough, using extensive simulation work to get ahead of what we know will be a very demanding weekend for energy management,” Houldey said.
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“We’re arriving at Spa with a new rear wing assembly, an upgrade we’ve had in the pipeline as part of the car’s development pathway.
“We’re confident that this update will add a bit of performance to our car, but we are fully aware that after a difficult British Grand Prix, mainly in terms of pure performance, even this round won’t be that easy, so we won’t be expecting any big change in terms of competitiveness.”
Spa is regarded as one of the most power-sensitive circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, making it a logical venue for McLaren to introduce the revised Mercedes package.
Brown had previously indicated the team expected to make the change once its existing engines reached the end of their planned mileage cycle, dismissing suggestions the delay was related to McLaren’s status as a customer team.
“We need to get the current Mercedes engine. We’re the only one without the new engine, which will be coming for us shortly,” Brown said at Silverstone.
“Of course, we’d like to have it. Anytime you have performance that you know is coming, but you don’t have it on your car yet, you want to get it as quickly as possible.
“But I wouldn’t say it’s a frustration. It is just what it is. We just keep our head down and keep pushing hard. It’ll be in the back [of our cars] in not too long.”
Brown explained the timing was instead dictated by the life remaining in McLaren’s current engines.
“You’ve got to cycle through your engines and we’ve got life left on our current engines, so we need to wait until we do an engine change.
“Williams got theirs because Carlos had his issue, so he needed an engine change. I don’t recall exactly Alpine’s scenario, but I think they’ve got two of them as well, so it’s just a timing sequence thing.”
The revised rear wing was originally scheduled to be trialled in Austria, but those plans were ultimately abandoned.
McLaren intends to evaluate the component during Friday’s practice sessions at Spa before deciding whether to race it.
The Belgian Grand Prix package comes ahead of what McLaren has described as a significant development step planned for next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix as it continues to refine the direction of its 2026 car.
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