Earlier on Friday, Zak Brown admitted that McLaren has fallen behind on the development of the 2023 car. Team boss Andrea Stella elaborated on the issues facing the MCL60 later in the day. According to the Italian, the biggest handicap is the aerodynamic efficiency of the new car.
Brown’s statements earlier in the day are not entirely surprising, because during the unveiling of the MCL60 on February 13, Stella already said that McLaren had come to different insights in the winter months. “Last year we had some clear development goals with regard to aerodynamic efficiency,” Stella explained to the German branch of Motorsport.com. “Some of the developments were related to managing the tyres, and also some other goals to improve the balance.”
According to Stella, many of the objectives have been achieved. “The reality is that most of these goals have actually been achieved, but the aerodynamic efficiency is still not where we would like it to be, so I think we are still falling short in that area,” says the Italian, who is not shocked is due to his team’s testing form. “Based on what I’ve seen over the past two days, I think our performance is about what I expected. We know we still have work to do, but the season is still long.’
Stella expects compact midfield
McLaren will provide updates in the coming months, but the season opener in Bahrain is still too early. Stella expects the midfield to be very close together and so a little extra can make all the difference. “I think we’re going to see again that the midfield is very compact and that means you can have a hard time getting out of Q1 if you just can’t get the most out of the car. But at the same time you also have chances to get to Q3. Our aim is to finish in the top four at the end of the season, but we may not be at that level at the moment.”
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