McLaren’s MCL36 will be modified with new parts for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, marking the team’s first substantial changes of the season.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris will have some new parts to test this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosted the first on-track session of the 2022 season and new regulatory cycle, giving teams a good opportunity to compare the advancements they’ve made so far this season as well as testing new components against previously obtained data.
Many teams, particularly Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes, are likely to bring larger update packages for this weekend’s race, while McLaren has also indicated the MCL36 will feature some new features.
“We are bringing some upgrades to the car for the weekend,” McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl said in his official race preview.
“I know it’s been an extremely busy week or so for many of the teams making changes ahead of Barcelona, so it’s going to continue to be a tight fight for points.”
Seidl believes comparative work will be critical as they dial in their new parts as McLaren was among the standout performers at the Spanish pre-season test.
“We performed well at this track in pre-season testing, so it will be interesting to see how our car will perform with the upgrades we’ve made since then,” he said.
“Hopefully we can have some good battles and get both cars back into the fight for good points.”
Barcelona was one of Ricciardo’s good weekends during his difficult first season with McLaren in 2021, as he qualified eighth and finished sixth.
Ricciardo believes the pre-season training at the Spanish venue might play a huge part this weekend, with the Woking-based team looking to bounce back from a poor weekend in Miami.
“There were some good battles in Miami with great support as always from the fans, but it proved to be a tough circuit for the team,” he said.
“Looking to Spain, we have to keep a positive mindset and apply everything we learned from last race weekend.
“Spain was a good race for me last year, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there in the new regulation cars and really get the most out of the MCL36.
“Having tested here back in February, we have more of an idea on what to expect under the new regulations than we do at other race weekends. It will be good to see where we can make improvements and put the upgrades we’re bringing to the test.
“Our performance since Bahrain has shown we can consistently fight for the top 10, so it will be great to get back on track and keep at it. We’ll keep pushing and keep coming back stronger.”
Norris retired from the Miami Grand Prix after crashing out on Lap 39 after colliding with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Norris, on the other hand, hadn’t had a particularly good weekend up to that point — he was in 13th place at the time of the incident.
Norris said he’s looking forward to comparing this weekend’s results to those from three months ago, after being towards the top of the times throughout the pre-season test.
“I’ve put the retirement in Miami behind me and I’m fully focused on the race ahead,” he said. “We got some good running in at the track during February testing, so I’m looking forward to adding everything we’ve learned from the season so far to the data we got there previously from the new regulation cars.”
“Miami highlighted that we still have a way to go to get back to consistently fighting at the top but it’s important for us to remain optimistic.”
“The team are working flat out to bring upgrades to the car as we speak, so hopefully, that will give us the boost we need as we head into this double-header.”
