McLaren F1 | The 2024 story so far

Looking at the results, McLaren is the third force of the Championship both in the constructors and the drivers’ standings with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, respectively in 5th and 6th position. 

The future is bright for McLaren, so says Lando Norris, although expectations were higher at Woking. After the brilliant end of the 2023 championship that saw McLaren finish as one of the key rivals, the 2024 season started under the leadership of first-time team boss Andrea Stella with the ambition to fight more closely. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, the first three rounds of the championship saw McLaren placing itself on several occasions as the third force in the standings.  Close to the podium with Piastri in P4 in Jeddah, the best result came at iconic Albert Park Circuit, with Norris celebrating the team’s strongest race of the season so far. “It was a very good race. I'm very happy and proud of the team because P3 and P4 is a lot of points in the championship”, said Lando after the chequered flag.

“We’ve enjoyed a strong start to the season so far. All in all, we start from a good base, and we’ve shown what we can do with a good car. it's another step to Ferrari and Red Bull, so we need to catch up, but we are getting closer”. Starting from P5, Piastri did a great job too. “The pace was good the whole way through. I don't think there was too much we could have done on my side. So close to a podium but it will come”.

The mantra was to keep the momentum, especially heading to Suzuka, one of the best race weekends for the team in 2023 with two cars on the podium. “Suzuka and Albert Park are kind of similar. You’ve got a lot of high speed”, explained Lando. “Compared to the last edition we need to consider that Ferrari have improved their high speed a lot. All in all, I think we can still look forward to it. We are getting closer to our goals”. 

On paper, in fact, Suzuka is one of the racetracks that suits the characteristics of the MCL38, given the numerous fast corners and the few slow turns that, in the past few races, have been one of the British team's weak points. McLaren showed good signals like the third place in qualifying for Lando Norris, P6 for Oscar Piastri. Unfortunately, in the race the McLaren pair could only slip back from their starting positions in Japan, finishing fifth and eighth respectively. 

“Our expectations were definitely that we could have finished on the podium”, confessed Team Principal Andrea Stella. “We did try to finish on the podium because we stopped early with Lando to make sure that we retained the track position, but ultimately we didn’t have enough pace to retain the track position”.

One of the explanations for the difference in performance between Saturday and Sunday, according to Stella, was precisely related to the fact that the MCL38 was able to extract the maximum with little fuel on board and new tyres, as confirmed by Lando Norris “We simply did very well in qualifying. We excelled, I did some very good laps and we looked strong. the race, instead, was tough. We gave it a good try, but we didn't have enough pace, so trying to cover and stay ahead of the Ferraris was challenging. I think we still did a good job and maximized the points but starting third and finishing fifth is never the nicest thing to happen”.

Fifth for Norris was complimented by eighth for Oscar Piastri, who also slid back two places from his starting grid slot. The Australian had a harder afternoon in some ways, in the thick of the action as he tried to balance attacking Fernando Alonso ahead with defending from a fresher-shod George Russell behind. “It was a difficult afternoon. Things didn’t quite click into place, and we weren't fighting for the positions we wanted to. However, it's four points finishes on the bounce this year and there’s plenty to take away and try to learn from. Now it’s time to look to China where we’ll look to secure more valuable points for the team.”

In the pinnacle of motorsports where every tenth counts, Andrea Stella and the racing team is determined to work even harder:

“It will definitely be a battle of development this year because these cars still offer quite a lot of performance through development. I would say this is the main objective for us”, explained Stella, “we should have a good round of developments in Miami (May 3-5). Then we should have at least one, if not two, more rounds of development over this season.” 

Going into the Chinese Grand Prix, the mood at Woking is confident. The F1 circuit returns to Shanghai for the first time after the pandemic with a double appointment: Sprint on Saturday and main grand prix on Sunday.