McLaren finished the British Grand Prix in fourth place with Lando Norris and eleventh with Oscar Piastri. The Woking-based team left Silverstone with a total of 20 points, a relatively modest return considering the Sprint weekend format. Once again, McLaren established itself as the fourth-fastest team, trailing Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the weekend was reliability, with the team completing the event without any major technical issues. However, McLaren continues to lack the outright pace needed to fight consistently at the front, making future upgrades increasingly important if it hopes to reverse a situation that currently looks far from straightforward.
Norris: “We capitalised on other people’s mistakes”
Reflecting on the Silverstone weekend, the reigning World Champion highlighted the positives despite acknowledging McLaren’s current limitations.
“We leave Silverstone with a third place yesterday and a fourth today, two results that are significantly better than what our true pace would have suggested.”
Lando Norris pointed to the team’s execution as one of the key strengths of the weekend, even though McLaren still lacks the raw performance required to challenge the leading teams on equal terms: “There are definitely positives we can take away. We executed the race well, we had strong reliability today and we capitalised on other people’s mistakes, which is a fundamental part of racing. On top of that, the support from the fans throughout the entire weekend was incredible, so I’m proud that we were able to come away with a solid haul of points.”
McLaren will now need to limit the damage again at the Belgian Grand Prix, as the team’s next major upgrade package is not expected until the Hungarian Grand Prix. Until then, the Woking outfit must maximise every opportunity with its current package at what is often referred to as the University of Formula 1.
“Now we’ll focus on the areas we need to improve before heading to Spa. There’s still a lot of work to do, but we’re committed to improving the package so that our results better reflect our true level of performance.”
Piastri: “The contact at the start damaged my race”
After a strong performance in Austria, Oscar Piastri endured a much more difficult weekend at Silverstone. The Australian was caught in a first-lap squeeze between the two Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, suffering damage that compromised the rest of his afternoon.
As a result, Oscar Piastri could finish only eleventh and therefore missed out on scoring points: “I got squeezed between two cars on the opening lap, which damaged my front wing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do and that effectively ruined my race. Our pace was a little stronger than the result suggests, and the car performed better in clean air, but the collision prevented us from making the most of those advantages.”
Piastri also highlighted one of the MCL40’s biggest weaknesses, an area the team must address if it wants to become more competitive over the coming races.
“The team is working extremely hard to improve the car, particularly when it comes to rear grip. We’ll keep pushing as hard as we can. We’ll go through the debrief and then turn our attention to Spa.”
Stella: “Major McLaren upgrades are ready for Hungary”
Team Principal Andrea Stella admitted that, despite scoring valuable points, McLaren remains well aware of its current competitive position.
“Silverstone was a positive result in terms of the points we scored as a team, but we’re under no illusions about where we currently stand. We were the fourth-fastest car on track and we benefited from the misfortune of others.”
Commenting on Lando Norris’ drive to fourth place, Andrea Stella praised both the driver and the team’s race execution.
“We’re pleased with Lando’s fourth-place finish because it exceeded what we believed was possible based on our outright pace. The strategy team also did an excellent job with the late-race pit stop, while Lando drove very well and made the most of every opportunity that came his way during the race.”
Turning to Oscar Piastri’s race, Andrea Stella acknowledged that the Australian’s afternoon had effectively ended after the opening-lap incident.
“Unfortunately, Oscar’s race was compromised on the first lap by an incident that damaged his front wing, preventing him from scoring points. The clearest lesson from this weekend is that we need to improve the performance of the car. We have a consistent gap to the leading teams that we must close if we want to fight for podiums and victories, which remains our ultimate objective.”
The Italian also revealed that McLaren has a significant development package scheduled for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which the team hopes will help reduce the gap to its main rivals.
“We have major upgrades planned for Hungary. Until then, everyone throughout the team, both at the track and back at the factory, must continue working hard and make the most of every opportunity available.”
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