McLaren ended the Canadian GP as one of the more frustrated teams, with a penalty for ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ costing Lando Norris the opportunity to score valuable points.
After another strong qualifying session, where both MCL60s found themselves in Q3, the Woking squad has once failed to convert its starting positions into top-10 finishes.
However, unlike in Spain, where a lack of pace was the determining factor, small mistakes combined with stewarding decisions are what proved costly.
Norris spent most of his afternoon in traffic, with Alex Albon’s straight-line speed making it near-impossible for the drivers behind to make an overtake.
The train forming behind the FW45 compounded the impact of the 23-year-old’s penalty, whilst a mistake for Oscar Piastri pushed him outside of the points.
Despite this frustrating Grand Prix, team principal Andrea Stella has confirmed that the long-awaited improvements to the MCL60 will be arriving in the next rounds.
Speaking after the race in Canada, Stella outlined the team’s development plan:
“Today in the race, we were consistently fighting for points. We actually had decent pace at times in the race. We finished P9 with Lando.
“We were given a penalty, 5 seconds, which meant that Lando was demoted to P13, and we lost the points we scored on track.
“The penalty surprises us, but we accept it. We move on.
“Next round is Austria. We’ll have some upgrades for the MCL60, finally. We have gone through a long process of redesigning the car.
“We knew that we needed to redesign it substantially to make it more competitive in the future, so over the few races coming over, we’ll have various stages of upgrades.
“We should gain a considerable amount of lap time. We should have good racing in the future.
Upgrades have been integral for McLaren this year, largely due to their poor development over the winter – a reality that Andrea Stella has spoken openly about all season.
Currently firmly in the midfield, though slightly behind last year’s rivals Alpine, the upcoming rounds will demonstrate the MCL60’s potential for the rest of 2023.
There will also be plenty of continuity between the 2023 and 2024 cars, so the personnel at Woking must ensure they have a strong enough foundation to build upon next year.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
