F1 | Stella: “MCL38 improved in slow speed beyond expectations”

Despite winning only one race out of three, McLaren was the surprise of the last three events and, probably, the most versatile car of the last triptych. The package introduced in Miami left the Woking team’s engineers satisfied, especially with the progress shown in the slow corners.

The most problematic areas of the MCL38 at the start of the championship in fact recalled the difficulties already seen with its progenitor: in addition to the low top speeds on the stretches, especially on tracks tending to have low loads, both last season’s car and this season’s single-seater year they also had annoying understeer in very slow corners where you had to rely on the front.

This could be clearly appreciated both in Melbourne and in the few slow points in Suzuka, while in China the reworked asphalt led to some interesting surprises. However, the real turning point was seen in the United States, when the package of technical innovations was introduced which gave new life to a project which, as admitted by the Woking team itself, had not started in its definitive state in development terms at presentation.

At the end of the Miami GP, Stella underlined that, although the updates actually gave the results they expected, the improvements in slow speed could be due to the fact that, to make up for those shortcomings previously found, McLaren had set the set-up to compensate specifically those traits. A deliberate choice even at the cost of sacrificing the strengths in the fastest corners of the first sector, while also trying to find a balance in terms of top speed.

However, the performances at Imola, where it seemed to be the most complete and effective car even if the victory did not come, and Monaco confirmed that the progress does not appear to be solely the result of specific set-up choices, but rather concrete improvements thanks to the new package. “In terms of the characteristics of the updated car compared to last year, what we see and what we expected is greater downforce in all conditions,” explained Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal.

“The car, compared to what we expected, seems to behave well even at low speed, perhaps a little more than we had predicted based on our development tools, which is good news. But obviously this is an aspect that we need to understand very well, in order to have the right information to further develop this direction, because it also seems to make us competitive on circuits that feature low-speed corners.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Erik Junius

For example, in Monte Carlo the MCL38 was not the reference in the slow corners, because that task fell to Ferrari, but it still showed good competitiveness. If Red Bull proved to be the fastest on medium-high speed corners, such as Massenet, Casino and Tabaccaio, however, it was more difficult in the slow sections due to the impossibility of attacking the curbs and absorbing the roughness of the road well. asphalt, at Ferrari the priority was to favor a good balance at low mileages. McLaren instead represented a mix between the two positions, a sort of compromise.

Although Monaco represents a very particular track compared to other tracks on the calendar, but already on Saturday after qualifying, how much does the time stopped on the clock really matter, Stella had praise for the work carried out: “Looking at the times of the sectors it seems that we we are performing well at low speed. This is because it seems that the car we brought to Miami performs well at low speed, almost beyond our expectations. I think we’ve also figured out how to use this car at low speed, which seems to work well,” The Team Principal explained.

“Here in Monaco the sector in which we struggled the most was the first, where the slowest speed corner is the first, the Santa Devota, so it is a medium-high speed intermediate. It therefore seems that the picture of our competitiveness is finally changing: low speed sections no longer appear as a clear weakness. There is still work to do, but I think the positive news is that through development it seems that we have managed to change the situation, when before we had clear weaknesses in the slow sections.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

According to Stella, some of the unexpected improvements found with the new package may not be the direct result of the new features, but rather the result of greater confidence on the part of the drivers in the updated car. This feeling would have allowed him to push where previously he lacked confidence, also because, in reality, the McLaren engineers found improvements not only in the slow corners, but in more characteristics of the car.

“This aspect of improvements that might work a little better than expected is kind of all over the place. It is not a specific topic related only to low speeds. For us it is still an open point as to why the car seems to be quite good in those sections, but we don’t want to jump to conclusions too soon, because it is essential to find a precise answer”, explained Stella. It is not the first time that a driver succeeds to unlock something more because he feels greater confidence in the car, beyond the pure performance brought by the new package. In the factory, in addition to the work on the simulator with the drivers, tests are also carried out in parallel with the Artificial Intelligence, which can run 24 hours a day without repercussions. However, the AI ​​does not feel the same sensations as the drivers on the track, so sometimes there can be differences between what a package brings from a purely performance point of view and what it brings in. terms of trust for those who sit behind the wheel.

This would partly explain why the improvements in the slow sections would have exceeded their own expectations. In fact, the Team Principal was keen to clarify that there is no correlation problem between the factory and the track, because the innovations, from a purely technical and load generated point of view, have returned the expected data. “I think we should distinguish between the correlation and what we measure on the track with the predicted data. From this point of view, things are going more or less as expected.”

“But the other point is: once you make these types of upgrades to the car and improve the aerodynamic efficiency, what is the lap time you gain? If you run a simulation and think you’ll earn X, it looks like you earned X plus some time. So, it’s not a question of correlation between factory and track development. He simply brought us something more on the track than we could simulate.”