Following McLaren’s resurgence over the past 12 months, with the team now competing for race wins, team principal Andrea Stella is now looking towards the next step the team must take to solidify their position towards the top of the pecking order.
With Lando Norris securing a now commonplace podium for McLaren, crossing the line just over 2 seconds behind reigning champion Max Verstappen, in Barcelona for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, team principal Andrea Stella dives into the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
Following a difficult start to last season, McLaren have undeveloped the majority of the paddock to now challenge for podiums and even victories consistently. With the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya considered to be one of if not the most balanced circuit on the calendar, an impressive P2 finish shows the competitiveness of the MCL38.
Speaking following the Grand Prix, Stella explains that the team’s success shows they have out developed a major weakness of last year’s car, with this year’s car clearly very competitive in low to medium speed corners.
“In terms of what category this track fits for, what are the characteristics of the car now,” Stella explained. “I would say that while there are some sections of the [track] that don’t necessarily fit the characteristics we have now, there are some others that do fit.
“If we look at the second sector, we’ve been very competitive all weekend. This is again witnessing the improvement we have made in the medium and low speed that we have discussed in previous events, which were mainly low speed dominated.”
Not to rest on their laurels, he went on to explain the team have now shifted focus in order to develop other aspects of the car in which he believes they have been outpaced by other teams.
He names the team’s performance in high speed corners as an area of opportunity as he says the upgrades which have been introduced to benefit the team’s low to medium speed performance have had a little effect on their high speed performance, due to the nature of the regulations. High speed was by far McLaren’s biggest strength when they updated their car from Austria onwards last year.
“We have some work to do actually now in high speed, proving somehow, like we’ve discussed in some of our media sessions, the fact that we’ve been able to alter the personality of the car. Now it’s a car that works well in a speed range which 12 months ago was our weakness.
“But with this generation of cars, you gain somewhere, you lose a little bit somewhere else.
“You just have to continue your development and make sure that while — it’s not like we made high speed worse, it’s like we didn’t improve it as much as we did in some other areas, and some other people did. Certainly Red Bull, they are very good in high and very high speed.”
