After an incredible comeback in terms of performance last year, McLaren began 2024 as fourth-fastest. In Bahrain, whilst there was more ont he table in qualifying, their race result was more-or-less optimised.
Lando Norris finished in P6 while Oscar Piastri crossed the line in P8, with the MCL38 only caable of competing with Mercedes. Red Bull and Ferrari were in fact too far ahead for the MCL38.
The MCL38 fighting with a ‘crippled’ Mercedes and far from the Ferrari
Lando Norris managed to place his car between the two Mercedes, with Oscar Piastri only behind George Russell’s. This made the 24-year-old driver quite happy:
“We are happy that our pace was very similar to that of Mercedes. Sometimes, I thought we could have challenged Ferrari too, but Carlos was too fast for us.”
However, it must be noted that Mercedes was limited by choosing the wrong cooling configuration. Without that, Mercedes would have been comfortably faster than McLaren and fought with Ferrari for the podium.
“Compared to last year, we improved by 1.8 seconds,” said a satisfied but also realistic Andrea Stella.
“This allowed us to keep pace with Aston Martin and Mercedes. But not Ferrari and especially Red Bull.”
Oscar Piastri was satisfied with the performance of the MCL38, less so with that of the team:
“There were some things in the race that we needed to do a little better. I’m talking about strategy and pit stops.”
Piastri actually fell victim to the undercut by Mercedes, also suffering a rather slow stop (3.57 seconds). The first tyre change was also slow for the Australian, with a time of 3.2 seconds.
“Strategically, we made a mistake with Oscar. We should have called him earlier to avoid the Mercedes undercut.
“It’s something we certainly need to review,” said Andrea Stella at the end of the race.
McLaren MCL38 should be better suited to Jeddah
The MCL38 is an evolution of the 2023 car.
“Already in December, I knew that we would not revolutionize the car and that we would not suddenly be fast where before we struggled compared to our competitors,” explained Norris.
The MCL38 is, of course, still a different car. Many areas have improved, but not enough to compete with the top three teams in Bahrain, especially when considering the W15’s issues.
“I think overall, we didn’t have enough grip. It’s not a question of the rear, the limited front.
“But just overall grip, which today wasn’t enough to fight with those in front of us,” explained Andrea Stella.
In the Papaya team, however, they are not looking at Max Verstappen. They are instead targeting Mercedes, Ferrari and Perez.
“We have to take two steps forward, one to take Ferrari and Checo, the other to take Max.
“Fortunately they, are not too large steps. And this is an encouraging aspect that we carry with us from this weekend,” Stella said.
Not only will Jeddah be a friendlier track to McLaren, but updates are on the way.
“The situation should improve with some parts that we will see in the next races,” announced Andrea Stella. These changes will be quite evident and could be seen relatively soon.
However, at Mclaren we continue with the strategy of not wanting to force the update times too much. “With the budget cap, we cannot afford to use the track too much as a development tool.
“At the same time, we must be sure to put parts in the car that we trust 100%.
“Otherwise, we risk doing like some teams last season, who put new things in the car and complicated their lives and weekends,” said the Italian Team principal.
Aston Martin is the best example of this cautionary tale.
The Woking-produced machine was still lacking in terms of top speed. However, this does not seem linked to any foundational issue. If anything, it was impacted by a set-up compromise in Sakhir.
“We knew we might have little grip in the race, so we opted for a rear wing that gave us more downforce.
“You can pay for this a little in qualifying, in terms of top speed. But in the race, it’s tyre grip that counts,” Stella explained.
The MCL38 is an improvement in every area, although the biggest jump is in medium-speed corners.
“We are working hard to bring updates that give us even more load at low speeds, which still remains the key variable for having the right grip in slow speeds.”
The next track on the calendar is Jeddah.
This circuit has very different characteristics compared to Bahrain. According to the McLaren team boss, it will suit the MCL38’s characteristics better.
However, it will be necessary to pay more attention to the front end than the rear end, something that Mclaren knows it still has to work on to be completely satisfied in that area too.
“There are still many things to learn because it is a different car compared to last year.
“More challenges, more question marks, but overall, I hope we fit in better,” Lando Norris said.
Author: Piergiuseppe Donadoni
Translation: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
