McLaren admits to pooling all their hopes on the MCL60 upgrades to salvage 2023 campaign
Andrea Stella has expressed his hopes for the upgraded McLaren racecar that will be revealed at the Austrian GP.
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The times are not going well for McLaren, a team that every single fan had huge expectations from because of their exemplary results only a couple of years ago. In 2020, McLaren were third in the Championship Standings, having usurped Ferrari, the most successful F1 team in history, from the top 3 spots. But now, the papaya squad were down in P6 with a meager score of 17 points after eight races that have already taken place in this year.
At one of his recent interviews, Lando Norris admitted to being new to the distant back of the grid where he is regularly found racing these days. The Briton has amassed 12 points for his team, while his Aussie partner Oscar Piastri, upon whom McLaren had pooled all their hopes, has only been able to get 5 points till now. All eyes were on Piastri at the start of the season since his team shelled millions of dollars to prematurely terminate Ricciardo’s contract and take him up by going to the court against Alpine for wrongful employment. But Piastri has clearly failed to live up to the expectations.
Now, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has accepted that they never had high hopes from the MCL60 right from the beginning of the season. He said, “At the start of the season, we realised that the car needed a fundamental redesign, so this redesign is actually interesting.” In the next few races, McLaren will reveal a string of changes which will ultimately transform their racecar completely. When urged to divulge on the information about the impending changes, Stella said, “I’d rather leave the surprise, but it will be noticeable.”
Related: Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur voices frustration with underwhelming SF-23 upgrades
Andrea Stella has revealed almost the entire McLaren racecar for 2023 will be redesigned
McLaren have realised all their problems that they have faced in 2023 till now have their roots in the MCL60. Thus, they are now focusing on introducing changes to alter the overall performance of the car. Speaking of this, Andrea Stella said, “I would say pretty much every single aerodynamic part [will change] – that’s why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races. We had to redesign even some parts under the bodywork. I would say pretty much the entire car. I’m banking on this package.”
According to the newly-appointed McLaren leader, the Woking-based outfit will disclose 50% of the updates that they have up their sleeves for the MCL60 before the Austrian GP. Th rest of the changes will become apparent in the subsequent races in Silverstone and Hungary. With the high hopes that Stella has reserved for the revamped MCL60, it remains to be seen if the car can actually keep up with their rivals like Alpine, or if the gap between the two teams will increase further.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)