McLaren is in a good momentum after the recent Grand Prix
McLaren is in a delicate position at the start of the 2023 season. The performances are not up to par, and the Woking team seems to be falling behind the top five teams. However, Andrea Stella believes that McLaren is in a good momentum.
McLaren’s start to the season has been challenging. After two successful seasons in 2021 and 2022, the Woking team is going through a rough patch. The pace of the car is not what was expected, and during the early Grand Prix races, McLaren has not been at the forefront.
Disappointing performances
Only 17 points have been scored by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in this early season. But the most worrying thing is that the team’s issues don’t seem to be improving. In Spain, Lando Norris managed to secure a third position in qualifying while his teammate qualified in ninth place. However, both drivers collapsed during the race. They didn’t score any points.
McLaren is now very far behind in the constructors’ standings. In sixth place, the team based in Woking is hoping for a miracle to try and catch up to Alpine, who are 23 points ahead of them. But the team wants to take the right direction to try and make a comeback.
« We left Spain with a slightly less satisfied feeling. […] We were very happy with our qualifying performance, of course. Both our cars were able to start from the top 10, after what may be our best qualifying session in a long time », said Andrea Stella.
On the right track
The weekend had started off very well for the Woking team. A great performance in qualifying couldn’t save McLaren’s furniture. The British team had still hoped to bring back some big points, but the incident in the first lap and the overall performance of the car in the race didn’t allow them to assert themselves in the top 10.
“The race proved to be more difficult than expected. In terms of pace and due to the incident with Lando Norris during the first lap, we weren’t able to achieve what we wanted,” Andrea Stella said. “When it’s like that, you keep going in the race and try to learn from the driver’s feedback,” the team principal continued.
This week, the ten teams of the World Championship are heading to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. It is a unique track, loved by many drivers. However, for McLaren, the solutions will surely not come right away.
We are heading in the right direction as a team. We are building a strong foundation to achieve long-term success. We know that the results will come when we evolve the car. We will try to extract the best from the car in Canada, concluded Andrea Stella.
