Only three weeks ago, under dry conditions, McLaren would probably have completed a perfect weekend in Brazil, with victories in both the sprint race and the main race on Sunday, despite a more formidable Max Verstappen than in previous races. Instead, unlike the bright lights of Las Vegas, McLaren seemed “switched off” this weekend, much like their tires, which they struggled to make work, suffering more than others from graining.
This wasn’t a complete surprise, as earlier races had shown signs of difficulty, but the Las Vegas round was different for two reasons: firstly, the cold temperatures at the American circuit exacerbated and worsened the MCL38’s issues, and secondly, there was a regression during the weekend that McLaren’s Team Principal had mentioned after qualifying.
On Friday, although the Woking team had noticed some graining over long distances, partly due to what could have been an overly aggressive approach to long runs with used tires, there was still some optimism about their potential for a good result in qualifying, where the MCL38 had shown competitiveness.
“If I look at the evolution throughout the weekend, I think we didn’t make much progress compared to yesterday in FP2, for example, where we were in line with Lewis Hamilton,” explained Team Principal Andrea Stella after qualifying, before mentioning how, under these conditions, the MCL38 struggled to extract the extra grip from the new tires. This was especially evident in Q3, more so than in the previous two sessions, when the top drivers had to push the limits, making the most of the soft tires—a problem reminiscent of issues Ferrari experienced in other races this season.
Two closely related issues
The regression on the single lap didn’t pay off over the long distance, as the two McLaren cars were never truly in contention for sixth and seventh places. Lando Norris would have finished around ten seconds behind Verstappen even without the final pit stop to secure the extra point for the fastest lap.
Looking at the weekend as a whole, aside from the fact that the Woking team didn’t make significant progress compared to the improvements made by their competitors, two main issues emerged, which were in fact connected: weakness at the front axle and difficulty managing front tire graining, which was worsened not only by the extreme temperatures but also by the layout of the track. Thanks to winter development and updates throughout the season, McLaren had made significant strides in managing the front end, which had been one of the most limiting factors in 2023.
This was particularly noticeable in slow and long corners, where the car relied on the front axle to rotate. While the MCL38 showed major progress in this area, there were situations where this limitation, which McLaren, according to Norris, has been dealing with for six years—basically since their F1 debut—remained present. “It’s something I’ve been complaining about for the past six years, and once again, we weren’t able to solve the problem and eliminate it enough from our car,” said the British driver.
On certain tracks, this flaw can be hidden to some extent, or a compromise can be reached while still remaining competitive, as seen in Monza. But on other circuits, especially when front tire graining is severe, McLaren tends to struggle more than others in managing it, limiting how aggressively drivers can attack at corner entry and during cornering. This also penalizes Norris, whose driving style tends to demand good support from the front tires. “Certainly, Lando is a driver who is very demanding on the front tires. So, in addition to the car’s characteristics, his driving style tends to aggravate the limitation of the front tires,” added Stella.
It’s no coincidence that when looking at the telemetry data from both qualifying and the race, much of the gap accumulated during the lap came in the sections where the drivers struggled the most, particularly the slow corners that require directionality, like the 7-8-9 chicane. In qualifying, especially at the entry to Turn 7, Norris was one of the slowest among the top teams, while Mercedes, which generally had better tire temperature, was able to be more aggressive.
This also ties into another consideration regarding setup: after the first two practice sessions, where Norris had used the most aggressive setup available among the two at Las Vegas, McLaren decided to lighten the setup further in FP3. To balance the car with the lower rear wing, Norris had to switch to a front wing with a cut in the upper flap, reducing front downforce even further.
The final stint provided valuable insights
However, not all was negative, and on the contrary, McLaren’s Las Vegas weekend could be an excellent opportunity to further improve their car. Looking at the times, it’s clear that Norris’ final stint with a lighter car actually provided a more effective pace than the previous two stints, showing that when the tires were used differently, the MCL38 could come alive like a phoenix. The key challenge in Las Vegas, beyond the car’s inherent characteristics, was not just getting the tires up to temperature but also keeping them within an optimal window over the long distance.
This point was also raised by McLaren’s Team Principal after the race, explaining that during the final stint, where Norris had clear air and wasn’t battling anyone, the team tried something different in how they managed the car, although it’s true that towards the end of the race the track offered more grip than at the start, so some limitations eased “naturally.”
“Analyzing Lando’s third stint will give us some important information on what we need to do on tracks like this to be competitive, because the way we were using the car and driving the car was definitely different from how we would normally approach it,” said Stella, with the team also suggesting different settings for the differential, engine braking, and other details, as well as adjustments in how to set up the stint.
“We tried to use the car in a different way, with a more aggressive approach, and this helped with lap times. We didn’t change the fundamental nature of the car, but we pushed to eliminate the front-end limitation, and it seems this made the lap times more competitive. We’re not happy with the result, but we’ve gathered information to better understand what to do under these conditions.”
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