One of the teams that left Australia with a smile was McLaren. Across the three days of running in Melbourne, the MCL38 showed very encouraging pace. Even if Ferrari were slightly beyond reach, McLaren should be satisfied with their status third-fastest team. In the first three rounds, the papaya squad seemed to be in competition with Mercedes and Aston Martin.
However, Andrea Stella’s personnel are now in a better place than the other Mercedes-powered teams.
ANDREA STELLA: “FERRARI IS NOT FAR AWAY, ENCOURAGING FOR JAPAN”
After the Melbourne round, the McLaren team principal commented on the race in Australia, explaining how there were many factors to deal with:
“It was a race with a high degree of uncertainty regarding the behaviour of the hard tyres,” Stella explained.
“And in fact, we saw that there were definitely some cars that were usually fast that weren’t because their tyres weren’t working well. One of these is Red Bull.”
Max Verstappen’s retirement briefly put McLaren in contention for a win before Ferrari and Carlos Sainz flexed their muscles. Realising the SF-24 was the faster machine, McLaren tried to be aggressive with their strategy:
“We stopped Oscar first, using an aggressive strategy, because we wanted to overtake Leclerc.
“But Leclerc also decided it was a good idea to stop and entered at the same time, perhaps because he was listening to our radio. Taking the same risk with Lando was pointless. They have a faster car.”
Although Lando Norris was occasionally fast enough to challenge Ferrari, the Italian outfit was one step ahead.
However, this has not discouraged Andrea Stella, who actually sees Ferrari as within reach, especially in Japan. The Suzuka layout could suit the MCL38 well:
“The positive news is that the Ferrari is faster but not much faster. We were very close, which I think is encouraging for Japan, a track that has a higher ratio of medium-high speed corners to low-speed ones.”
OSCAR PIASTRI’S GROWTH IN TYRE MANAGEMENT
Andrea Stella then examined the driver swap between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with the Australian driver giving up third position to his teammate in an attempt to catch up on Leclerc:
“In Australia, every lap you gain with your tyres makes your car much, much faster than someone who stopped before you.
“Because the tyres lose almost half a tenth to a tenth per lap. So Lando would always outdo Oscar. We asked for the exchange to prevent this from happening through unnecessary fighting.”
The Mclaren team principal then explained how Piastri is improving his tyre management and getting ever closer to Norris’ level:
“Lando and Oscar go more or less at the same pace. It is extremely encouraging to think that this improvement has already come at the beginning of his second season.
“For example, if you think about how much he still has to gain from this point of view, I think that is something very positive for the future of him,” concluded Andrea Stella.
The Italian team principal then wanted to underline how one of the fundamental aspects of Piastri’s growth was the greater awareness acquired thanks to working closely with the men of the team:
“When you are a rookie, you have to somehow get into the problem and then figure out how you got there.
“So I think this is the mechanism by which he is now much more aware that some conditions could lead to some problems. It’s a fine-tuning, almost like a self-calibration exercise through experience.”
