McLaren plans to take three weekends starting with the Austrian Grand Prix in order to adequately set up their upgrades which have been backed to turn the season around.
McLaren has come to the conclusion that the MCL60 is to blame for all of the issues they have had since 2023. As a result, they are currently concentrating on making changes to the car’s overall performance.
Given their stellar performance just a few years ago, McLaren was the subject of high expectations from every single fan. However, things are not looking well for the team right now.
McLaren finished third in the championship standings after Ferrari, the most successful F1 team in history was knocked out from the top three slotss in 2020. However, after eight races that have already taken place this year, the papaya team was down in P6 with a pitiful score of 17 points.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has acknowledged that the high-profile firing of Daniel Ricciardo diverted attention from the prevalent issues at McLaren.
“We had our driver-related issues … which kind of took the attention,” Zak Brown stated earlier in the season. “Meanwhile, kind of underneath the surface I wasn’t happy with the pace of the development of the racing car.
“That was the second half of last year.”
Lando Norris is a young talent that McLaren has been fortunate to retain for at least another season, but time is running short to provide the Englishman with an effective car. However, things could be different for them come the Austrian Grand Prix.
McLaren has revealed a massive upgrade package that will require three full weekends to put in place.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is certain that such an update may elevate McLaren’s performance.
“I’m banking on this package,” Stella said. “This should be a few tenths of a second. It should be noticeable from a lap time point of view.”
“At the start of the season, we realised that the car needed a fundamental redesign. This redesign is actually [influencing] pretty much every single aerodynamic part.
“That’s why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races. It will be decently noticeable.”
According to reports, 50% of the package will be implemented in time for the Austrian Grand Prix but it is still unclear if it will be enough to face off with Alpine and Aston Martin, who are currently leading the field.
Oscar Piastri, who made his F1 debut this year finished eighth in his home race in Australia to earn points for his team. Meanwhile, Lando Norris is now down in 11th place with 12 points, so the British driver will be hungry to move up into the top 10 in the driver’s championship.
Considering a professional driver of his caliber, finishing in the top 10 is the absolute minimum, and if the changes don’t significantly quicken the MCL60, the driver will probably seek elsewhere.
