McLaren F1 begins the season on a high, with CEO Zak Brown highlighting the MCL38’s potential and competitive edge.
McLaren F1 has gotten off to a better start this season than in the previous two years, where winter testing had been very challenging. This time, CEO Zak Brown notes that the team is already competitive, and the MCL38 appears promising.
“It was much better than last year’s tests,” Brown stated. “We learned a lot about the car. We had some issues here and there, but I think everyone in the pit lane did.”
“That’s what testing is for, to understand the weaknesses. It seems we have good pace over one lap and in race conditions. I never really know what the others are doing.”
“We feel quite competitive and are about at the same level as last year, which is what we wanted coming into this year. I hope the developments we’ve made continue to work, which I’m confident about.”
Although starting the year better, the Woking team will continue to implement a very intense development program this year: “Everything we see in development right now continues to be good.”
“I think we can hope to maintain the development pace we have, and if one or two teams slip up, we might be able to turn one of the six second places we got last year, nine podiums, into one of those first places, which is certainly our ambition.”
“We will bring things to every race, but we will have our share of significant improvements during the year, wings, floors, bodywork, as we did last year. I don’t see why the development curve couldn’t continue like this.”
“Bahrain is not the ideal circuit for our car.”
Team principal Andrea Stella also confirms that McLaren is in much better shape than a year or two ago at this time: “Over the last two seasons, winter testing was inconsistent, with several reliability issues.”
“We didn’t feel very prepared heading into the first race. This year, the situation has significantly improved, we approached pre-season testing better prepared, and it confirms the team’s positive evolution.”
“That said, we couldn’t do all the planned laps due to red flags, a fuel supply system issue yesterday, and another issue today. We can still improve, but these few days have been positive overall.”
“Before the Bahrain Grand Prix, we must be cautious because some teams seem to have made a good step forward during the winter, and Bahrain is not the ideal circuit for our car. We’ll see where we stand in qualifying.”
McLaren F1’s Promising Start Surpasses Previous Years. McLaren F1’s Promising Start Surpasses Previous Years F1 2024
- Sainz Open to Red Bull Move
- Following us on Facebook and Twitter.
