Although McLaren kickstarted the 2023 campaign sluggishly, they did end the season on a high. The team secured several podiums in the second half of the season and also arguably posed the greatest threat to Red Bull for wins. Following an outstanding recovery in 2023, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has now revealed what his side needs to at least remain competitive next year.
As quoted by motorsport-total.com, Stella said, “Realistically speaking, we know that we need half a second if we want to remain competitive next season“. The Italian then added that he is not keen to raise expectations just yet as they still have a lot of work to do to be competitive next year.
After discovering a massive bit of performance this season, McLaren will now hope to take a similar step forward for next year. The Woking-based outfit did indeed surprise their rivals this season when they introduced an upgrade that helped them discover immense performance in the high-speed corners.
As a result of the improved performance, Lando Norris (7) and Oscar Piastri (2) helped McLaren register a total of nine podiums. Moreover, Piastri also grabbed a win during a sprint. Hence, since McLaren were arguably the team that improved the most over the course of the 2023 season, the expectation is that they are likely to make the highest gain to challenge Red Bull at the front next year.
Can McLaren produce another surprise in 2024?
McLaren indeed did surprise their rivals this season as from fighting just to get into the points at the start of the year, they suddenly saw themselves consistently fighting for podiums and wins in the second half of the campaign. One major concern that the Woking-based outfit faced in challenging Red Bull was their lack of pace in the slow-speed corners.
Even when McLaren improved their performance significantly, they always knew that this was one area where they were weak. Therefore, if the Woking-based outfit can now improve their performance in this area, they could indeed close down the gap to Red Bull.
Similarly to McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes also made a step forward towards the end of the season. The Prancing Horse had an outstanding last few races as Charles Leclerc grabbed three podiums in the last four Grand Prix. Moreover, they were the only team other than Red Bull who won a race this season when Carlos Sainz clinched victory in Singapore.
While Mercedes did not win a race, they perhaps were the most consistent team after Red Bull. This is also the reason why they managed to beat Ferrari to P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.
