After an underwhelming start to the season, McLaren is seemingly getting back on track. The team has been working hard for some time now on a package of updates that is said to revolutionize the MCL60 and change the course of a season which so far sees the Woking-based team sixth in the constructors’ championship, with just 17 points.
The updates, as reported by Andrea Stella – McLaren Team Principal – will be introduced on both cars gradually during the races in Austria, Great Britain and Hungary.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris commented on the new course that their team is taking.
“I’m excited for what’s to come in the future, and the not to distant future now – which is nice,” Piastri stated.
“I feel like as a team we’ve done a very good job of getting the most out of the package we have at the moment, and I think the last three weekends, we’ve had five out of six Q3 appearances. I was 11th in the one that didn’t make it, so it’s been a good string of races for the team on Saturdays.
“On Sundays I think we still need some some work, but we know that and we’re working on it,” the Australian driver said speaking about where he thinks the team should focus more.
Rain and cooler conditions have helped McLaren at various points during the Monaco, Spanish and Canadian race weekends.
The Australian mentioned how well the team has done with the current package they’ve had.
“Obviously the conditions in the last three weekends as well haven’t been that standard either so I think maybe we’ve capitalised on that and I think in Barcelona especially we saw how our car works in those conditions and even in Q2 [in Canada] a similar story. Yeah, I think we’ve done a very good job of maximising what we can at the moment and very excited for the upgrades to come in the future.”
Lando Norris also gave his opinion on the upgrades that will drastically change the look of the McLaren as well.
The Brit is confident of a step forward as they look to join Alpine in the fight behind the top 4 teams, but he won’t get too excited about the new package until it hits the track.
“I look forward to anything that’s new and of course there’s been a lot of work that’s gone into it too.
“I think we’ve been quite patient with what we’ve had. We’ve been chipping away at many other things at the same time, so let’s say we’ve not brought a lot of lap time like pure lap time to the table since the beginning of the year. Of course we had the new floor in Baku but that was more philosophy than absolute performance.
“But yeah putting it all together, putting in the work that we’ve been doing, like Oscar said, I think we’ve been doing a good job with what we’ve had. We’ve madethe most of the opportunities that we’ve had – maybe one or two that we’ve missed out on but that’s about it.
“There’s been a lot of work. It’s been a lot of changes. And now [we’re] seeing all of this kind of come together and [we’ll] see what we can do with it, but of course it’s not on track just yet.
“I’m confident it’ll be a step forward but how much is the question. I don’t want to get too overexcited about all of it like I never do.
“A lot of work has gone into it. I’m excited to see all of that kind of come through and see what we’re capable of doing,” the Englishman concluded.
