– Is the great McLaren comeback beginning in Miami? Although Oscar Piastri finished second in the last Formula 1 race in Japan, it was the world champion team’s only podium finish in the first three races of the season. In the championship, they are currently only in P3 behind Mercedes and Ferrari.
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“We always intended to develop a completely new car for the North American races, especially with regard to aerodynamic improvements,” team principal Andrea Stella now reveals and announces: “In Miami and Canada, we will see a completely new MCL40.”
What sounds like a major attack by McLaren on the competition could, according to Stella himself, only be a minimal step forward. Because the team principal adds, “that I would expect exactly that from most of our competitors as well.”
This means: According to Stella, not only McLaren will bring an extensive upgrade package to the car in the upcoming races. Because the break in April not only helped his racing team, but also “all other teams,” Stella emphasizes, “who were now better able to concentrate on further developing the car.”
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“So it won’t necessarily lead to a shift in the pecking order, but it will basically just be about seeing who could get more performance out within the same period,” explains the team principal.
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In this context, he reminds that McLaren had a deficit to the Mercedes factory team before the April break and was usually somewhat behind Ferrari. This means: McLaren had to find more performance than its direct competitors in April to close the gap.
“However, we are very satisfied with the progress we have been able to make behind the scenes, and therefore hope to see a somewhat more competitive MCL40 in Miami and then in Canada,” Stella says confidently.
“Especially since we already showed a decent performance at the last race in Japan,” he reminds. The upcoming weekends in Miami and Montreal will show whether Piastri’s podium finish in Suzuka was more than a flash in the pan.
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