McLaren updates, how and when
In the first four races, McLaren has confirmed itself as the car to beat, and given the Woking team’s expertise in bringing developments to the car, it’s reasonable to believe they’ll be in contention for both titles until the end of the Championship.
One of the key topics regarding the Papaya team is indeed updates. Team principal Andrea Stella admitted that the next package has been studied (“We’re about to pull the trigger”) without, however, specifying which race will see the updated MCL39. Above all, internal dynamics have changed, with Lando Norris now being chased in the standings by Oscar Piastri. A situation that could change McLaren’s traditional approach to updates, which have historically been delivered to Lando Norris first and only in the following race to his teammate.
Andrea Stella’s words
Clearly, if Oscar Piastri were to soon take the lead in the championship or stay just a few points behind Lando Norris, McLaren would face a potential issue, as the Australian would hardly accept being treated as a number two driver: “We’ll have to first see the actual update. If it’s a wing, there’s no need to bring it for just one car, because it’s a less demanding change,” Andrea Stella admitted to the media. “The reason we proceeded with one car at a time in the past is that it was a major change that also involved modifications to the mechanical parts and systems under the bodywork. And clearly, it will also depend on how we perform: if the car continues to be this fast, we’ll need to take a more careful approach and ensure we don’t create imbalance between the drivers.”
“We obviously have an idea of the package, because we’re working on it and we’re about to pull the trigger in terms of delivery,” the Italian engineer added. “That doesn’t mean it will arrive in just a few races, not in the very short term.” – the former Ferrari team member concluded.
Leave a Reply