McLaren admits copying Red Bull led to British GP success

Andrea Stella revealed that McLaren's recent upturn in fortunes was caused by upgrades inspired from Red Bull.

McLaren admits copying Red Bull led to British GP success

Andrea Stella (image via Atheltistic), Christian Horner (image via Sports Illustrated)

McLaren had a woeful start to the 2023 F1 season. The Woking-based team had struggled to get its updates ready for the first few rounds of the season. However, things have turned around for the British team, with Lando Norris securing a P2 finish at the British GP. Team Principal Andrea Stella revealed that McLaren did take inspiration from the championship leader, Red Bull.

Stella admitted that the Woking-based team had followed the design philosophy of the dominant Red Bull RB-19. The McLaren team boss defended his team by pointing out that all teams can mimic each other’s designs through various measures. He is quoted saying by Racefans.com, “Every team takes inspiration from any other team. Teams are equipped to try and absorb IP [intellectual property] from looking at the photos, from looking at the cars on display on Friday.”

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Andrea Stella mentioned that McLaren’s members had been rejuvenated back at Woking. The 52-year-old highlighted that the team was able to extract much more out of the car in the last few weeks after the departure of former Technical Director James Key. He explained, “And now we are finding directions. We are finding performance quicker than we were in a condition to do before.”

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Copying a design is not enough for results, says Andrea Stella

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the British GP (image via Formularapida.net)
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the British GP (image via Formularapida.net)

The McLaren team boss made it clear that simply copying the championship leader will not guarantee results for a team. The team must understand the working of the design concept before adopting it on its car. This includes running the designs in CFD or even testing the models in the wind tunnel to ensure that it would improve the team’s pace.

Although, Stella admitted that McLaren remains behind Red Bull. The Woking-based team will need to step up its development regarding the floor of the MCL60 after Red Bull introduced extensive upgrades in Monaco. Subsequently, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would require a further developed car before truly challenging Max Verstappen.

Thus, Andrea Stella acknowledged that McLaren had taken inspiration from Milton Keynes for its recent upgrades. The Woking-based team has seen a current turnaround in its fortunes at the British GP, including an impressive performance in Qualifying. Fans would be looking forward to seeing how things pan out for McLaren throughout this season.

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