McLaren developed its car better than anyone else last season, going from a disastrous first race in Bahrain to second-fastest in some of the final rounds. Their aim over winter was to maintain the gap to Red Bull and gain five-tenths. However, this was not enough to maintain the gap to reigning champions.
Mid-season upgrades will again be pivotal for Andrea Stella’s team.
They begin 2024 with an average of 14 points per race, with a best finish of P4 in Saudi Arabia. Considering McLaren’s gap to Verstappen was ‘just’ three tenths at the end of last season, many expected a better start.
However, Red Bull’s development over the winter widened the gap by several tenths. Moreover, some of the MCL38’s undesirable characteristics have been inherented from the MCL60.
In Jeddah, the deficit in terms of top speed compared to Mercedes was clear. McLaren is consistently at the bottom of the speed traps – though this is partly due to set-up.
Meanwhile, despite their levels of aerodynamic load, the MCL38 struggles in low-speed corners. McLaren’s losses to Red Bull in qualifying are mostly from the slower sections of the track. Their aerodynamic and mechanical updates will aim to resolve and limit some of these defects, with the aim of catching Ferrari and Red Bull.
ALMOST HALF THE LOSS TO VERSTAPPEN IS FROM LOW-SPEED SECTIONS
The gap between the MCL38 and the RB20 in corners was around three-tenths in the first two Qualifying sessions of the year. This difference was exclusively from corners where the minimum speed drops below 120 km/h, where the gap is almost four-tenths on average.
Considering there are only a few slower corners in Jeddah, this is an alarming statistic. Meanwhile, the gap in the medium and high-speed corners is minimal, even slightly in favour of the Woking-based team.
The problem is mechanical in nature, with Norris still complaining about the poor handling of the car.
“We still have a lot of work to do in these areas [where they struggle].
“Because the improvements in these areas will make me happy to drive the car. That will allow me to extract more time from the car, therefore to be more consistent.”
The main loss appears to be in braking, an issue that Ferrari also faced in Bahrain after a major change in approach to the front suspension in the winter.
McLaren has been using pull-rod suspension at the front since 2022, the first year of the new regulations. In his sense, they were in line with the Red Bull philosophy.
However, after a few years of development and adaptation, mechanical problems, particularly when cornering requires a high steering angle, remain.
The McLaren concept does not directly follow Red Bull. Still, like most cars on the grid, there are many similarities. Norris and Piastri used different setups in Saudi Arabia, although their pace was very similar.
From these different approaches, Andrea Stella’s team could assess the MCL38 and its weaknesses. Whilst performance in the medium and high-speed corners is enough to keep up with Ferrari and Red Bull, the car loses too much time in the straights. This issue is particularly apparent when DRS is open.
Last year in Austria, an important step was also taken in this area. General efficiency did improve, although the first races after the winter break show there is still work to do.
At the moment there is a 3 or 4 km/h deficit to Ferrari only in corners. This deficit is present relative to Red Bull in both the corners and the straights.
MCLAREN UPDATES MUST MEND THE GAP AFTER THEIR LOSSES OVER WINTER
If we compare the end of last season with the beginning of 2024, McLaren has lost about five tenths per lap in race trim and three tenths in qualifying relative to Red Bull and even Ferrari.
In this sense, updates must make up for the time lost in winter development. Andrea Stella’s target of 5-tenths improvement was not enough to maintain the gap.
Last week, both Norris and Piastri were at the McLaren Technology Center in Woking to work with the engineers, reviewing the first two races of the season to maximise performance at the Australian GP.
The last step that McLaren will have to take is to improve the consistency of pit stops. In the second half of the season, the mechanics made a big leap forward, becoming among the fastest in pit stops and setting a record of 1.80s when changing tyres in Qatar.
This year, out of the first six pit stops, only on two occasions did they record a time of less than three seconds.
Three pit stops were even longer than 3.5 seconds. To battle Ferrari, it will be necessary to maximize every aspect of performance, starting with understanding their fundamental issues and at low speeds.
