Four events remain until the checkered flag on the weekend in Abu Dhabi which will bring the season to an end, but McLaren has achieved the objectives it had set itself before the start of the championship, when the team was aware of the possible difficulties it would encounter but also of the its development path.
The British team, in fact, knew that it had not reached the initial target during the winter break, but was also aware of the potential future of the single-seater. The hope was to at least reach the role of fourth force before the conclusion of the world championship and this objective was largely achieved as seen in the second half of the championship.
In some events the MCL60 also proved to be the second force in the field, just behind the Red Bull, the reference that dominated the season. In the last four races there has been a total of six podiums, including the third place achieved by Lando Norris last week in Austin. Undoubtedly, McLaren paid a negative price for the choice to keep two sets of hard tires ahead of the race, given that the harder compound also proved to be the least competitive of the weekend, putting the Woking team already at a disadvantage compared to the more direct rivals.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
However, beyond this aspect, McLaren was aware that the US track would have created a few more headaches for its car compared to the stages in Japan and Qatar: the Austin track, in fact, features particularly bumpy asphalt and many slow corners , two characteristics that the MCL60 suffers more than other single-seaters. “The pace in qualifying was good, maybe not so much on Sunday. If we look at the pace, my pace was quite poor compared to many other cars. The Ferrari was pretty okay, to be honest. The Astons were very fast, faster than me. So, I think it was a good weekend, which made things even better. We made the most of every situation we found ourselves in, putting in good laps in qualifying, which always makes everything that little bit better. But yes, still being as competitive as we were on a circuit where we didn’t expect it was positive,” said Lando Norris on the eve of the stage in Mexico.
In the United States, the English team suffered above all in the slowest areas of the track and, more specifically, turn 11, while it performed well in other fast areas, such as in the most driven section of the snake, confirming the qualities that had already been seen in the first sector in Japan. At the basis of these difficulties there is a combination of factors, starting from the fact that a good entry must be combined with an early exit, in order to make the most of the traction phase leading onto the long straight. The problem is that, at low speeds, the MCL60 shows some more problems in the rotation phase, ending up in understeer, which does not allow it to position itself in the best possible way on exit.
“To be honest, it’s a combination of factors. One is the width of the track, being such a wide circuit, the distance from the entrance to the apex is very, very large, which makes the arc of the turn extremely long. Therefore, it is necessary to have a very good output. When you want a good exit, you want to be able to turn the car early, which we can’t do because our low-speed front end is very, very poor. And our traction isn’t great either, one of the worst aspects of our car. Our traction phase is worse than a lot of the grid,” added the British driver.
![The telemetry comparison in qualifying in Austin: you can see how, compared to the Ferrari, McLaren showed clear difficulties in turn 11](https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6VRaEEl6/s1000/confronto-qualifiche-usa-norri-1.jpg)
Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro
The telemetry comparison in qualifying in Austin: you can see how, compared to the Ferrari, McLaren showed clear difficulties in turn 11
Added to this was another element, namely the differences in asphalt level, given that in turn 11 the older road surface was still present which had more bumps and guaranteed less grip. Throughout the weekend, the two team drivers complained about the bumps, especially during braking, to which was also added the wind, which increased in intensity during the race: “What made things worse was the very old asphalt, with extremely low grip for everyone. Furthermore, on Sunday there was a tailwind. All these factors, put together, made the situation very bad, but already on Saturday we were in a very bad situation. So a combination of a few factors, but I would say overall, in my opinion, it was the lack of ability of the car in the rotation phase. In any low-speed corner, our minimum speed was always too low, we couldn’t turn the car and therefore couldn’t accelerate in a straight line.”
Precisely for this reason, Norris expressed some doubts about McLaren’s chances in Mexico, a track which has a greater number of low-traffic sections where you also have to attack the curbs. The only area in which high and medium speed curves are included is the sequence of the second sector, especially in the last stretch, the most guided one in which you have to fight against understeer.
“I think the main thing is that there are no particular strong points of our car this weekend, perhaps only the braking at the end of the straight. There are no medium-high speed sections, which are the ones where we were very competitive and where we make up a lot of time over the course of the lap. In the race, for example, we always had to push in the high-speed sections, which is something you don’t necessarily want to do,” explained Norris. Naturally, the more you push into fast corners, the more loads and forces act on the tyres, increasing degradation.
![Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60](https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl/2jXadeg6/s1000/lando-norris-mclaren-mcl60-1.jpg)
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
“But to compensate for the lack of performance in low-speed corners we have to push in high-speed corners, which causes higher tire temperatures and more degradation. When it’s as hot as it is in Texas, performance on Sunday is slightly worse, not just compared to Saturday, but overall. I think we have two very difficult weekends ahead of us, both here and in Brazil.”
“There are a lot of low-speed corners in second and third gear, which are where we are weakest. What will make it a little more difficult is the contrast with the last few weekends which have been so good. There have been tracks that have suited us and which, in the past, have suited our car reasonably well. This was not the case in Mexico. I expect to see a more competitive Aston Martin. Mercedes, for example, I think will be very competitive. Only because there are many sections where you start from a standstill, with corners in second and third gear where it is easy to lose a lot of time even with a small speed difference like 2 or 3 km/h”.
“I think we know which tracks we struggle with the most, that is here and in Brazil. And then the last two races are a bit of a question mark. I think maybe we won’t be as competitive. And you will see some of our competitors, I would say especially Aston, take a step forward and be fast again,” added the McLaren driver.
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