As pre-season testing draws to a close, McLaren are emerging as the team to watch as the F1 paddock prepares for the season opener in Melbourne. The reigning Constructors’ Champions have impressed with a combination of raw pace and consistency, particularly in the hands of Lando Norris. The British driver’s race simulation showcased McLaren’s potential, positioning the team as a genuine threat to their rivals.
While Team Principal Andrea Stella remains cautious, the confidence emanating from the McLaren camp suggests that their winter development has paid off handsomely. In Thursday’s afternoon session, Norris completed a full race simulation alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli.
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A dominant test performance
The runner-up’s pace was well ahead of his rivals, reinforcing the belief that McLaren have made a significant step forward. As testing drew to a close, Sky Sports’ Laura Winter pressed Stella on the team’s progress and his response made it clear that McLaren are exactly where they want to be.
“I can tell you that our winter testing has gone to plan so far,” admitted Stella. “We haven’t had any major problems with the car, which has allowed us to maximise our time on track.”
Despite their impressive speed, McLaren’s approach to testing has been methodical. The team has prioritised crucial aerodynamic assessments before turning its attention to actual performance.
“Some of the work we did on track was basic aerodynamic testing, so we weren’t always looking for speed,” explains Stella. “We had to ask our drivers to be patient and help us gather data for the team, and they did a fantastic job.”
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Calculated risks yield big rewards
Once McLaren turned its attention to performance, the results were immediately encouraging. Stella revealed that the MCL39’s on-track behaviour was in line with expectations, which was far from guaranteed given the extent of the changes introduced over the winter.
“We made some adjustments to the composition of the car during the off-season,” said Stella. “We definitely went into testing with some question marks that we wanted to answer.”
The Italian Team Principal admitted that McLaren had taken risks in their development approach – risks that now appear to have paid off.
“The most important thing for me is that the car is behaving exactly as we predicted,” Stella stressed. “I have to give credit to our engineers for that. If you want to innovate, especially when your car is already competitive, you have to be prepared to take some risks”.
Stella’s typically cautious demeanour gave way to a rare moment of confidence as he reflected on the team’s early success.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but we trusted our engineering team and they proved us right. They have done a fantastic job,” he declared.
That level of confidence should be cause for concern for McLaren’s rivals.
Rear instability a minor concern
Despite McLaren’s strong showing, Norris admitted that the MCL39 is not without its weaknesses. In particular, the Briton pointed to some instability at the rear of the car. However, Stella was quick to play down any alarm, suggesting that the problem was largely circuit specific.
“Speed on long runs needs to be taken with a pinch of salt,” cautioned Stella. “These conditions – low temperatures and minimal wind – suit our car well. It was an ideal scenario for us.
He went on to address the issue of rear instability, explaining that Bahrain’s unique track characteristics naturally exaggerate such concerns.
“It’s true that in general we’d like to have more grip at the rear,” admitted Stella. “But that’s normal in Bahrain, where the track is very demanding in terms of traction and rear stability. Now that we’re seeing more typical conditions – higher temperatures, more wind – the drivers’ comments about the car’s instability are more pronounced. But that is what we expected here.
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A clear direction for the final session
Heading into the final day of testing, McLaren’s focus remains on refining the package rather than chasing lap times. Stella emphasized the importance of driver feedback in shaping the team’s development path.
“Oscar and Lando are very similar in their comments about the car,” Stella noted. “This is always a positive thing for our engineers because it gives them clear areas to work on and improve.”
With Oscar Piastri at the wheel for the final session, the team’s approach will change slightly.
“Oscar will be concentrating more on race preparation,” revealed Stella. “In the last few days, his priority has been car development, but now it’s about extracting performance, setting fast lap times and completing a race simulation.”
With the conditions changing, McLaren are expecting a more challenging session.
“It will be more difficult to do a 60-lap race simulation in these conditions,” admitted Stella. “Many teams will also use the final afternoon for qualifying runs before moving on to longer stints.”
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McLaren ready for a strong start
As the final pre-season laps are completed, McLaren appear to be in a commanding position heading into Melbourne. While Stella remains pragmatic, there is no denying that his team have made an early statement. The combination of speed, reliability and a clear direction of development suggests that McLaren has the tools to be a contender in 2024.
For the competition, Stella’s growing confidence – and the pace shown by Norris and Piastri – should be a worrying sight. Whether McLaren can translate test success into race-day dominance remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the team is not backing down from the challenge.
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Of course testing is just testing and teams run different levels of fuel together with different power unit settings, yet there are aspects of the various kinds of runs the teams choose to make which give a much firmer kind of data.
Red Bull were handicapped by a water pressure problem which saw Liam Lawson miss out on some of the track time on day 2. Further, the team did not perform any long run race simulations which may be left to Max Verstappen tomorrow.
Yet in the afternoon McLaren (Lando Norris), Ferrari (Charles Leclerc) and Mercedes (Kimi Antonelli) all performed a number of race simulation long runs.
The headline from the data is that across a 57 lap Grand Prix in Bahrain, Lando Norris was an enormous 32.3 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Antonelli a further 2.4 seconds behind.
The first thing to remember when considering Mercedes is that Kimi Antonelli being a rookie would probably be slower than George Russell and so the numbers from the Mercedes runs may well be…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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.
