The second most successful team in F1 history is enjoying a renaissance after years in the wilderness. McLaren once ruled the F1 world and its MP4/4 car from 1988 was revered as the most successful ever in the sport. Losing just one race in that season the McLaren-Honda raced by Senna and Prost now jointly holds that record along with last years RB20.

Of course the Red Bull did notch up a higher percentage of wins due to the fact the calendar in 2023 had 22 races not just 16 as in 1988. Yet 2023 did reveal McLaren getting on top of its problems and the results from race eight onwards saw the team score more points than Ferrari and Mercedes – and Lando Norris score more points than anyone other than Max Verstappen.

 

 

 

McLaren build on 2023 success

Team principal Andrea Stella revealed the strategy for this year would be to design and build a car based on the strengths of last years entry, rather than take the more radical route of “revolution” as did Mercedes and Ferrari. This created high expectations for the papaya liveried cars, which have failed to live up to their billing.

McLaren had accumulated just 14 points after four events last year and are clearly better positioned ahead of Mercedes with 69 points in 2024. Yet Ferrari are clear of the Woking based team having racked up 120 points this season so far. This gap for McLaren will be a disappointment.

The McLaren design concept for their F1 cars has seen them strong at circuits with high speed corners and weak at those with slow and medium speed turns. This was true even before the ground effect rules arrived in 2022, something Daniel Ricciardo never came to terms with.

Formula One is returning to China this weekend after five years away from Shanghai. The circuit there has characteristics which suit McLaren less and team boss Andrea Stella is already managing expectations.

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Stella: “China…. worries me the most”

“I have to say that of this first part of the season, China is the track that worries me the most from a competitiveness point of view,” Stella said. “You have so much low-speed hairpins. Even in corner two, corner three, you spend so long in long corners.

“And I think it’s been a theme I’ve been repeating. So far, we haven’t been able to improve the car enough in these low-speed, medium-speed long corners. So from a competitive competitiveness point of view, I would expect a more difficult situation than here in Suzuka, Australia and the first part of the season.

“China may be a bit of damage limitation for us. And then from Miami onwards, hopefully we start kind of a better stage of this 2024 season and more to come in the second part of the season.”

Part of McLaren’s thinking will be based on the fact that Shanghai is a front end limited circuit design, which currently favours Ferrari more than any other F1 team. The seemingly never ending right hand turns one and two punish the front left tyre on an F1 car like nowhere else on the calendar.

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Shanghai track resurfaced

Yet Stella’s comments show how far the team has come given even a poor showing from McLaren in China is unlikely to be bettered by the currently shambolic Mercedes team. They together with Lewis Hamilton are having their worst ever start to an F1 season and even with upgrades in Japan, Mercedes were a shadow of their former selves.

The Chinese Grand Prix is the first Sprint weekend on the 2024 calendar a decision which has received criticism from certain quarters of the paddock. Having been absent from Shanghai for half a decade together with the circuit having been re-surfaced, how the new ground effect car designs will cope is unknown.

The old surface was highly abrasive and created large amounts of tyre degradation but the teams haven idea how the new asphalt will react util the cars hit the track in free practice one. With the Sprint weekend format tweaked for the second time the teams will be allowed to change their car setup after the Sprint, now on Saturday morning and before Grand Prix qualifying which is now on Saturday afternoon. 

“Definitely it’s going to be a challenging event, from several points of view,” says Stella. “What is the tarmac situation will we find?

“At the same time, let’s not forget that China was one of the most severe tracks for graining. So how will the tyres be able to cope with this?”

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Piastri jokes “home race”

Yet despite his concerns Stella remains optimistic given the lack of preparation each team will face before Sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon.

“It’s also a tricky track in terms of balance between some very high-speed corners, like entering corner one, and then many low-speed sections.”

“Seeing it in isolation, it gives a headache. But once you see it from a competitive point of view, I think you need to think: ‘If I do not do a perfect job, but a little bit better job than others, then this could be a big opportunity,” the McLaren boss concludes.

Oscar Piastri took to social media claiming the return to China would be like a second home race for him given: “My great great grandfather was Chinese so I think that makes this my 1/16 home race?”

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Norris calls for better decision making

The Aussie entering his second year in F1 has made a solid start to the season having scored 32 points, just five less than his highly rated team mate Lando Norris, and he currently sits P6 in the drivers’ championship.

Norris was irritated with the team’s strategy calls last time out in Japan believing the team made a mistake when pitting him early to cover off the Mercedes of George Russell. 

“We covered George [Russell], which I think we didn’t need to do. This is something we will discuss after in the briefing. Maybe a discussion, if we could have done a better job for P4 but it’s always difficult to make those decisions at the time, so tough,” reflected Lando after the chequered flag fell in Suzuka.

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F1 driver says Ricciardo “does’t derisive his seat

Daniel Ricciardo was axed by McLaren a full year before the end of his contract with the British F1 team. At the time it appeared this could be the end of the road for the loveable Aussie until Red Bull stepped in recruiting him as a reserve driver.

A number of theories were propounded as to why Ricciardo could not come to terms with the McLaren while his team mate Lando Norris flourished. One of which was revealed by the team’s then executive director of racing, Andrea Stella, who suggested the problem was a mismatch between the driving style of his driver and the characteristics of the car… READ MORE