McLaren has become a revelation in 2023, developing at a hugely impressive rate since their mid-season upgrades in Austria. Several changes have been brought to the MCL60 for Monza, designed to address a lack of straight-line speed.
The Woking-based outfit accelerated its update plan earlier this year, but it came at a cost. Primarily, McLaren postponed the production of low-drag rear wings – prioritising modifications designed to produce overall performance.
After all, their surge to the front wouldn’t have happened with a new rear wing alone. Forced with a choice between downforce and top speed, F1 teams will pick the former almost every time.
However, if the British team wants to become a consistent front-runner, all weaknesses must be addressed.
Speaking on this topic, Lando Norris made clear there is still work to do:
“Really, the only run where we looked competitive was the final run, which makes us look very good.
“But I’d say we’re not as good as what it looks,” he explained in the media pen.
“I think with the other tyres, with the medium and the hard, we struggled quite a bit more.
“Also, on the race runs, we struggled quite a bit more than we did on the one-laps with soft.
“I’m happy. We made some good steps forward and some improvements today, but we’re definitely still not in a competitive enough place.”
Whilst the British driver’s evaluation seems accurate, he will almost certainly be in the mix this weekend.
Qualifying in 2023 has been tightly contested, and a circuit like Monza with very few braking zones should further shrink the gaps between drivers.
Slipstream will also play a factor, both on Saturday and the Sunday race, adding another spanner in the works for drivers and teams to contend with.
The pack behind Red Bull is constantly changing, and this reality can be expected to persist in the temple of speed.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
