Overview
- McLaren confirmed it used its second of four permitted parc fermé curfew exemptions to work on both MCL40s after Friday practice at the Barcelona‑Catalunya Grand Prix.
- The team said the overnight work was precautionary and involved replacing permissible key components to improve the robustness of the power‑unit installation and its electrical integration on both cars.
- The move follows a run of Mercedes power‑unit issues this season, including pre‑race electrical failures in China, a battery change in Japan, and Lando Norris’s retirement with a power‑unit problem in Monaco.
- Using two exemptions in quick succession leaves McLaren with only two curfew breaks left for the year and has prompted concern at Woking because a fifth breach would count as a sporting offence with fines or grid/time penalties.
- Other teams such as Alpine and Cadillac have also used their second curfew exemptions this weekend, showing that overnight component or chassis changes remain an occasional but costly tool for teams to protect reliability and track time.