McLaren finished the 2023 Formula One Eason on a high. Since their major upgrade after just 8 rounds, the Woking team outscored the rest of the Red Bull chasing pack going into the winter hopeful.
The word from team boss Stella was that the McLaren project over the winter would be one of evolving their 2023 car rather than creating a whole new design philosophy. At the launch of this years MCL38 Andreas confirmed this was indeed the approach taken by the team in developing this year’s F1 challenger.
Brown breaks off for media briefing
“Going into this year, we look to build on the momentum of last season but are realistic in the knowledge that every team will have made progress and found competitiveness for their 2024 cars,” said Stella.
Of course a new car launch is one thing, but testing reveals infinitely more about how the team’s believe they have delivered. Half way through day 2 testing in Bahrain, the McLaren CEO Zak Brown broke off to speak with the media about his hopes for the coming year.
“It’s a big year,” Brown announced shortly after lunch. “I think we’ll definitely start this season much better than we did last [year]. Our men and women at McLaren did a really good job over the winter.”
Brown believes the era of the cost cap will see “nine other teams in the sport” in ever closer competition given they all now have “similar budgets and infrastructure.”
Zak targeting race wins
In terms of ambition, Brown is clear: “It is to win races this year. Last year, with six seconds, it’d be nice to make another step towards the top. We certainly want to start where we finished and progress over the season.”
Rumours emerged from McLaren in January that the progress they had made since the Austria upgrade last year had remained linear in fashion. This performance improvement would put them ahead of the RB19 as it finished last season. Brown now adds to this sentiment claiming, “I see no reason why, if we can keep up the development we’ve had since the summer of last year, we shouldn’t be in a position to get on that top step.”
The team have been building new facilities for last two years as well as adding to their technical staff. Brown appears to suggest the rebuilding is now over and its time for McLaren to reap the rewards of their resurrection.
Yet despite his bullish quotes over the rate of progression, Andrea Stella was down beat by way of contrast to his CEO.
“Some of the weaknesses improved”
Lando Norris finished day two of testing with the fourth fattest time and when taken into account Sainz who was quickest ran a softer tyre, the Brit was just under half a second behind Sergio Perez
“I think some of the weaknesses have been improved,” Stella said of new McLaren car. “For instance, we are, I would say, happier with the grip on the rear axle, which was one of the aspects that we wanted to work on. Overall, there is more grip in the car.
“But there’s some aspects that we still have some work to improve,” he added. “The major performance opportunity remains overall grip.”
Stella doesn’t believe McLaren will need to correct mistakes made in this winter’s design process but insists more grip is available to be found.
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Stella hints at disappointment
“You just left to put more grip on the car, which mainly comes from ergonomic performance but we have some more margin to improve also from a mechanical point of view, and also in terms of interaction with the tyres.
“So, in all these three aspects, aerodynamic, mechanical grip, interaction with the tyres, we plan to bring developments over the course of the season.”
After just two days of testing Stella’s comments create a hint of an impression he is unhappy with the readiness of the car for this year. The Italian talks of a “good foundation” and of “potential” all making it clear the car as behind where McLaren wished it to be.
Brown talks of race wins and more than the 6 second places is his immediate ambition, yet Andreas is cautious and thinks early “wins” this season are left field.
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“early wins are unlikely”
“The car has potential, but it needs to be unlocked – the insinuation is that early wins are unlikely but, should everything go to play and the team continue on its trajectory, that will come.
“What we have seen in our own development is that we seem to be able to keep the gradient of development that we started last year,” Stella again observed.
“That led us to the Austria, Singapore, and the launch car development. So, if we keep this developing… I can’t say we’re going to get there, but I become more optimistic that we can be in a competitive position.”
Stella refers to the elephant in the room that is Red Bull Racing. Even with just two days testing complete the Newey creation is looking fast and Red Bull are renown for their ability to out develop the field mid-season.
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“Obviously, if Red Bull keeps developing at the same level, we’re never going to meet them. But I think the important thing is that you can keep this development over time.
“If you think in our own journey, at least after the technical reassessment, reorganisation of the team, we are not even 12 months in,” he added. “So it’s a relatively young journey, a short journey from this point of view, but I’m encouraged with what I see coming from a development point of view.
Two bosses from McLaren with one more bullish than the other over the immediate future results beginning in just over a week. Meanwhile the McLaren drivers have said little so far.
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
