McLaren has pulled back their pace deficit exponentially as the season progressed. The MCL60, at the start of the season, was a tricky car to drive and lacked out-and-out pace. However, a few massive upgrades later, the team can boast of having arguably the 2nd fastest car on the grid. Despite this meteoric rise in performance, the Woking-based team has now admitted that they have exhausted their artillery in terms of unlocking pace, per F1Maximaal.nl.
When the season started, the Papaya team was a sorry figure. Things got so bad that many touted Lando Norris to ditch them for a seat at Red Bull despite being contracted to the team till the end of 2025. Lo and behold, since the British GP, McLaren has been the only team to drastically close the gap to the Bulls, making Norris the biggest thorn in the side of Max Verstappen.
McLaren is not getting overconfident despite the leap in #F1 performance seen in the British GP, says Norris.https://t.co/WrdfkzC16H
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) July 21, 2023
2023 was a perfect year for the team to get their foundations right. The MCL60 is now operating in the optimum window in terms of performance in certain areas. Come 2024, the team is hoping to patch low-speed performance and tire degradation to make the 2024 challenger a title contender.
After Austin push, McLaren admit to exhausting their firepower
Max Verstappen was pushed to the limit at the Circuit of the Americas during last weekend’s US Grand Prix. The man who was breathing down his neck was none other than McLaren’s ace, Lando Norris. It seemed as though McLaren was finally on par with the raging Bulls.
Team Principal, Andrea Stella is aware of the impact that the team’s upgrade packages have had. He explained to Autosport.com (as quoted by F1Maximaal), “We did not expect that we would be in the lead for a stint and a half at this circuit (COTA). We are therefore looking forward to the coming races. Hopefully we can have more success.”
📊 | Driver Of The Day Tally (Post Austin GP 🇺🇸)
Verstappen – 3 🇸🇦🇺🇸🇧🇪
Perez- 3 🇦🇺🇦🇿🇭🇺
Norris – 3 🇦🇹🇬🇧 🇺🇸
Alonso – 2 🇧🇭🇳🇱
Sainz – 2 🇮🇹🇸🇬
Piastri – 2 🇯🇵🇶🇦
Ocon – 1 🇲🇨
Hamilton – 1 🇪🇸
Albon – 1 🇨🇦#F1 #Formula1 #DriverOfTheDay #USGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gDTdLbfRoC— el Formula (@elFormulaOne) October 23, 2023
But Austin may have been the final push left in McLaren’s armory. Stella continued, “We are realistic about the fact that we will no longer have any magic this season in terms of car development to improve lap times. Or to improve in terms of tire degradation.”
Qatar and Japan exposed McLaren’s biggest flaws says Lando Norris
On the face of it, the MCL60 is an almost-perfect race car as per the benchmarks set by Red Bull’s elite RB19. That being said, McLaren are still lacking in a few areas which means they aren’t as good as Red Bull. Low-speed performance and tire degradation being major outliers here. And Lando Norris knows the price to pay, with four races to go in 2023.
While evaluating the Japanese and Qatar GP, Norris explained, “I think there’s no super high speed, Suzuka-style, Qatar-style circuits left which is where we’re strong. I don’t think they’re any good ones for us coming up. I think our best have gone,” per Motorsport.com.
With that, Norris believes that a McLaren win may not be on the cards anymore during the remainder of the 2023 season.
