McLaren: China on the defensive then the first updates will arrive in Miami

For the sake of McLaren it is a satisfying start to the world championship. At Suzuka, the Woking team managed to consolidate third place in the Builders category, scoring more than double the points of Mercedes and Aston Martin in the first four races, despite not bringing any upgrade packages to the track. As with Ferrari, progress was made mainly through further understanding of the MCL38 as the race progressed.

McLaren: The MCL38 is more limited than the Ferrari SF-24

Suzuka’s performance can be considered slightly below expectations for the English team, especially after the positive qualifying, however, we must consider the strength of the car brought to the track this season by Ferrari, which no longer has important weak points in various general technical areas. From this point of view MCL38 is more limited, while the SF-24 adapts very well to all circuits and is currently, along with Red Bull, the most complete car on the grid. So it’s no surprise that McLaren remained the third team at Suzuka too, albeit on a circuit that was certainly friendlier than its predecessors.

During qualifying, McLaren’s excellent performance combined with the below-expected SF-24 times presented a false picture. “In qualifying we can rely on positive things for our car at low speed” – said Andrea Stella – “The new tire, for example, allows us to spend less time in the corners and its extra grip compensates for some of our weak points”. That is not the case The MCL38 performed better than the SF-24 at low speeds in qualifyingand then getting worse by almost 4 laps in the race, this time losing time to the Italian car. “In the race we used harder compounds, which exposes the weakest parts of the car more. This is why we suffered less than in qualifying.” Italian engineer and Team Leader announced.

The first update package in Miami but in China the MCL38 will have to defend itself

At Mclaren they fully agree that the Japanese GP showed that the MCL38 has not yet reached Ferrari’s level. “That race showed us that we still have work to do. We haven’t reached the level of Ferrari e yet we just need to get a little more rhythm.” Oscar Piastri actually made it known. The first development package will arrive in Miami for the English team’s car but it is highly likely that it will not be enough to get a Ferrari. “Ferrari will also bring an update (for Imola), so it will be a race to see who can update better. But I think just one update package will not be enough to catch them.” TP McLaren has indeed made it known, who however remains confident in the possibility of a release from the MCL38 and that development direction which Woking still considers steep.

However, before the Miami Grand Prix there will be a very feared event for the Woking team, which is the Chinese GP that was last held in 2019, with the victory of Lewis Hamilton, and therefore never with this new generation of cars. The layout is definitely not suitable for the MCL38. “There is Lots of low speed sections and lots of sharp bends so we will go to China to minimize the damage” – said Stella who wanted to clarify that, in the coming months, MCL38 should be well suited to all songs – “Once we’ve built the car, we’ll talk a little more about what kind of setup you like or don’t like.”. The English team believes, however, that it can start from Miami “the best phase of this season 2024”. The MCL38 development program will not stop soon and the most important things will arrive in the second part of the season.

And although the team will certainly not want to have a Sprint weekend in the GP that has been absent for four years now, Andrea Stella is trying to see the positive aspects. “We have to look at it from an opportunity perspective and since our car has internal problems in slow corners, it’s not a bad thing that some have only one hour of free practice to draw what we could not do.” concluded the Italian engineer, with very good technical and intelligent arguments.