Over the winter, the team’s new principal, Andrea Stella, conducted a thorough review of the Woking design department.
After saying goodbye to technical director James Key, he reviewed the management of that role, hiring David Sanchez from Ferrari and one of Red Bull’s longtime engineers, Rob Marshall.
With some elements of this revised set-up, McLaren has improved the MCL60 from a car struggling at the rear in the early races to one capable of podium finishes at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix, and a third-place finish in the Sprint of Spa, just before the summer break.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, has also approved the construction of a new wind tunnel and again a simulator. Their completion, he believes, will leave the team with no “major gaps” to fill in order to aim for championship success over the next two seasons.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Brown said: “I think, other than constant tuning, there aren’t any big gaps like we’ve had over the past five years.”
“With no wind tunnel of its own, a 20-year-old simulator and a lag in CFD technology, these were big gaps. Now it’s a fine-tuning.”
“There’s nothing that makes us say, ‘We need a new wind tunnel.’ This will all be in place.”
However, Brown said the greatest benefits will not fully materialize before 2025, with time needed for the new F1 team to integrate and optimize.
He continued: “Aside from the fact that, of course, fine-tuning is always going on, we’ll have everything we need.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
Photo by: Erik Junius
“At that point we’ll need time to put everything together, culturally and communication-wise. But we won’t be making many announcements about further updates.”
“Then it will just be a matter of perfecting, learning, improving. But by 1 January we will have all the credentials to be a World Cup team. Apart from that, we just need a little time.”
And he added: “We have a different leadership and structure. Then we have new people coming in, who should contribute to the performance.”
“Even if everything is working now, like the wind tunnel, only in 2025 will it be possible to start again from a blank sheet with the new structure and the new people. Rob Marshall and David Sanchez won’t start before January”.
“Our car for 2024 is already in the works, not with all of our current infrastructure and not with our full team. So, it will be 2025. But look what we can do with what we have.”
“I’m very proud of everything the team has done. So, everything we’re bringing is a plus, just more horsepower, which we should then see with another step forward in 2025.”
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