McLaren approaches the 2024 Monaco GP with a special livery to pay tribute to Ayrton Senna, one of F1’s most legendary drivers ever. On the track too, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be looking to compete for the win, but their weekend has not gone off to the best start.
Photojournalist Kym Illman, a regular feature in F1 races, was in the Monaco GP paddock on Thursday when he noticed the McLaren motorhome was incomplete and still under construction.
According to Illman, a crane was parked on the site of McLaren’s motorhome, which delayed proceedings by 12 hours. What should have been completed by Wednesday, is still not ready, just one day before Free Practice 1. However, McLaren was not the only team affected by this logistical nightmare.
Because of the delay suffered by the Woking-based outfit, Alpine’s motorhome too, remains incomplete. This will be a roadblock for both teams’ operations, as their hospitality section is where they discuss strategy and work on approaching the weekend strongly. About Alpine, Illman said,
“They can’t get people into their suite today (Thursday). Instead, they are working from above the garage, over the pit lane.”
With FP1 kicking off on Friday, McLaren sped up their process of completing the construction of its motorhome in the paddock. But it could give rise to other issues caused by the delay.
What does this mean for McLaren?
Illman revealed that Norris and Piastri’s rooms were the only parts of the motorhome that were completed. With them being a priority, they wouldn’t have faced any problems with hospitality. In the early hours of Monday, McLaren posted a video on their X account which showed their suite, and it appeared to be completed.
Good morning, Monaco! ☀️️#MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/TgA7mcN05H
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) May 24, 2024
However, considering that the team members and drivers get their food in this section, catering could have been an issue. Thankfully, McLaren was prepared.
Last week in Imola, they got to know that there could be issues in the kitchen come Monaco. As a result, they already prepared extra food which they froze, and will simply have to reheat and consume in the Principality.
