McLaren announces that developments in Miami will be “limited”
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has said that his team's upgrades for the Miami Grand Prix will be "remarkable" but not as comprehensive as those for the 2023 season.
Last year, McLaren had a very bad start to the season. To remedy this, the British team made some big changes as early as the Austrian Grand Prix. Improvements that saw McLaren go from a midfield team to a team capable of fighting for podiums with Ferrari and Mercedes in the second half of the season.
In the early races of 2024, McLaren managed to consolidate its position and even outpace Mercedes.
But during the launch of its MCL38 in February, the team had declared that they had other promising development projects in preparation, which they had not been able to finalize in time for the launch version.
The first set of upgrades is ready for the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, and although Andra Stella’s team boss wanted to remain discreet on the subject, he nevertheless indicated that they should bring a significant advancement but will not be as massive as its biggest upgrades of 2023.
An unexpected performance in China
Stella said, “This upgrade will not be as significant as the two we delivered last year in Austria and Singapore, but it should be an interesting development.”
« She should be noteworthy. I can’t say much more than that, because otherwise we would be talking about numbers. With that, I would like to remain confidential. It’s still a big if, because even though the success rate of this correlation has been good over the past 12 months, there are always possible surprises. »
The main weaknesses of the McLaren are low-speed corners, tire degradation, and aerodynamic efficiency. These are three key areas that the team tried to address last winter but are still fragile on its 2024 car.
The developments in Miami are like a first attempt to mitigate them. However, the team once again surprised with its on-track performances, with Lando Norris finishing in second place at the Chinese Grand Prix on a Shanghai circuit that was supposed to be challenging for McLaren.
Instead, Lando Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri encountered more difficulties at Suzuka, only seven months after achieving a double podium at the Japanese Grand Prix last season.
