McLaren’s extensive updates to the MCL38 ahead of the Miami GP caught the attention of the paddock, after the team transformed its fortunes with an in-season package in Austria last year, there’s a possibility this could happen again in 2024 – and much earlier this time around.
The extent of the upgrades means the car is nearly in its B-spec already, wit the full list of changes consisting of: front wing, front suspension, front corner, floor body, sidepod inlet, engine cover, cooling louvres, rear suspension, rear corner and beam wing.
Speaking on Friday before McLaren delivered impressive pace, team principal and now provisionally technical director of car concept and performance – after David Sanchez’s shock exit in April – Andrea Stella has clarified that the upgrades to the MCL38 in Miami are worth “less” in terms of lap time than the huge package it brought to Austria last season.
He also explained how the team is testing with two different specifications during the weekend, as Lando Norris has the full package and Oscar Piastri has a few less parts, as the squad tries to understand whether the new parts are working as intended not only in terms of performance, but also reliability:
“It’s not really the shortage of parts [that made us split the parts], it’s that the upgrades involve quite a lot of work and also you still have to prove out that they work from a mechanical and aerodynamic point of view. That’s why you only go with one car.
“[We are comparing] back-to-back, but it’s not only the back-to-back that’s the main reason why you split. Like I said, achieving these kind of upgrades on the side pods and floor is very involved in terms of redesign and in terms of building the cars and so on. So you also do it because you sort of need to see that everything runs reliably.
“So it’s not only the pure performance comparison, if that makes sense.”
The Italian also explained how there is a “significant enough” difference between the two packages, meaning Piastri essentially has a slower car for the weekend – the interview was done before Sprint Qualifying took place, a session in which Piastri beat Norris despite having the lesser parts:
“Yes, it’s significant [in lap time]. We should agree on what significant means. Enough to justify all the work that you do to deliver these parts that you see and the parts under the bodywork that you don’t see.
“So it definitely needs to be material and tangible. Otherwise, you wouldn’t do such an effort.”
Piastri will get the full parts next time out in Imola, with Stella saying this will be the “main” update they will have for a while, with just fine-tuning to come after that. He also explained some of the challenges that come with planning such a big change and actually bringing it to the circuit in line with expectations.
“In reality, from a planning point of view, yes,” he said when asked if this upgrade was planned since the launch of the MCL38. “From a realisation point of view, ultimately whether you achieve it or not depends on the fact that in your development you mature a package that is good enough to say, OK, we go for it.
“You plan for it because you also need to see where you are with budget, what you can afford over the season. But then the fact that you actually materialize an upgrade is if there’s good enough work in the aerodynamic department, let’s say, to actually mature the development of parts into a package. So far, I have to say our aerodynamic department has done an amazing job.
“That’s the main one. For a few races, they will be just tuning on a much smaller scale.”
The upgrades seemed to work wonders for the team on-track, with both Norris and Piastri right at the top of both SQ1 and SQ2 sessions on Friday, before a switch for the soft tyres in SQ3 completely derailed the performance of the car. It remains to be seen whether they can recapture their early form for the rest of the weekend.
