McLaren is confident of beating Red Bull in 2024
Following an impressive development during the 2023 season, which has seen McLaren become one of Red Bull's most serious rivals, the British team is optimistic about its ability to beat the reigning world champions.
The start of last season was extremely difficult for McLaren, with only 17 points scored in eight races. But after significant upgrades brought to Austria, the Woking team experienced an impressive comeback in the hierarchy. They even took a victory at Red Bull during the Sprint race in Qatar.
During the launch of their new car, the MCL38, team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged that beating Red Bull could be difficult, but asserted that if McLaren continues the progress they started last season, the team could find themselves in a very strong position.
“I think, at the beginning of the season, that Red Bull will continue to benefit from a certain advantage,” Stella confessed. “They didn’t develop the car much last year. I believe it is reasonable to expect that they have accumulated some knowledge and development from last year that will be put to use on the 2024 car.”
« That being said, if we maintain the rate of development that we had in 2023, then I think we can be in a strong position, he said. « Whether that is enough to challenge Red Bull and the other leading teams, who have certainly made good progress, we will find out, but we believe it is a solid rate of development.
A shared optimism among the pilots.
Lando Norris agrees with his team principal Andre Stella and, although he is convinced that McLaren can beat Red Bull on certain occasions, he has admitted that the goal will be to consistently surpass them.
“If you were to say, ‘are they beatable?’, you should say yes,” expressed the British pilot. “I think we want to believe that we can say yes, because we were very close at some moments [last year], and at others we even beat them.”
The question is whether we can beat them over a season? I think it’s going to be difficult, and I think it’s going to be very challenging to do so with their current performance. But yes, [I am] optimistic.
Oscar Piastri, who won the Sprint race in Qatar in 2023, has also brought optimism about what McLaren can do in the championship against Red Bull, as well as Mercedes and Ferrari.
« You have to have the optimism that you can beat them,” commented the Australian. « Like Lando Norris said, we are very close at certain moments. I think, as Andrea Stella said, if we can maintain the same rate of development, then we can be very optimistic.”
« But we must also be aware that it’s not just Red Bull that we are fighting against. We are in a very intense battle with Mercedes and Ferrari as well. In terms of championship points, in the second half of last season, it was incredibly close between us.
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« We are teams that have had a lot of success at different times, so we must be cautious that it’s not just against Red Bull that we are fighting, and I think there will be other teams that are also progressing. », concluded the young Australian, who is starting his second season in Formula 1.
The ten teams will soon be in action for the first time during pre-season testing, which will take place at the Bahrain circuit from February 21st to 23rd.
