Oscar Piastri (AUS) is seen driving the McLaren MCL38 car during the Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 9, Canadian Grand Prix, held in Montreal, Canada, on June 8, 2024, during qualifying day.
According to McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, the team has not finished developing their current generation Formula 1 car. Last season, the Woking-based team experienced a remarkable turnaround, going from struggling to score points to consistently achieving podium finishes with updates throughout the season. This momentum has carried over into the current campaign, with recent updates resulting in Lando Norris’s first victory and three consecutive second-place finishes. The MCL38 has proven to be competitive on all types of tracks, and Stella revealed that its weakness in low-speed corners has been eliminated.
Stella remains cautious, acknowledging that McLaren’s progress in low-speed corners has exceeded expectations. However, he revealed that the team has started to understand the factors that contributed to this improvement, although they have chosen not to share specific details to prevent competitors from gaining knowledge. Internally, McLaren sees this progress as a positive sign, indicating that they have not finished their development efforts. Currently, they are focused on further updates for this season and for the 2025 car.
Since overcoming the limitations that were affecting its competitiveness, McLaren has accumulated more points than its rivals. Stella emphasized that, although there is still room for improvement, the team’s approach now revolves around taking incremental steps instead of big updates. They will introduce individual components that offer performance gains as soon as they are ready, instead of waiting to use them all together. Stella did not provide specific details, but mentioned that fans can expect to see new additions in the upcoming races.
