McLaren are in no doubt that they will need to make further updates to their Formula 1 car if they are not to be beaten by Red Bull at some of the remaining circuits this season. If the main objective is to secure the Constructors’ title, then the gap to the Milton Keynes team will have to be widened.
The size of Lando Norris’ lead over Max Verstappen in last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix suggests McLaren could now hold a clear advantage over its main rival as the title fight heats up.
But while some of the tracks on the schedule, such as Baku and Singapore, are likely to pose a big challenge for Red Bull, McLaren believes that, based on the current performance characteristics of its MCL38 and RB20, there are other more aerodynamically demanding circuits, such as Austin and Qatar, where its rival could have an advantage.
“I think if we go to tracks like Zandvoort, we can be sure of getting high performance, with long corners with high downforce,” said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
“If we go to tracks where there are high-speed corners, like Silverstone, we know that Red Bull is very strong on that type of layout.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“And I think that if we went back to Austria they would be faster, because in Austria they had an advantage of about four tenths in qualifying.”
“But I think that thanks to the updates we will now be more competitive even where Red Bull was potentially faster than us.”
Stella believes the situation means McLaren must make the most of those weekends where it has the lead and must make developments to its car to close the gap in areas where it believes its rival is better.
“We missed the opportunity to see in Belgium who would be the fastest car in the dry because of qualifying and the intermediate tyres,” he said.
“But we think that the car in its current configuration is not sufficient in terms of performance to be the best in every single event. For this reason we plan to make further updates before the end of the season.”
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