The World Championship Circus leaves Bahrain with confirmations regarding the values on the field at the start of the season. Verstappen and Red Bull remain the benchmark, whilst Ferrari is currently the second-fastest team. Sakhir also showed a McLaren that could fight with Mercedes, albeit a few steps behind the SF-24
However, at times in the race pace, the Woking team suffered a little more difficulty than the three-pointed star, collecting fewer points.
Lando Norris: “We are fighting with all the teams, not just with Mercedes”
Looking at the recent past, McLaren can leave the opening round of the season with a smile, given that in the two previous editions, it was left empty after the first GP.
Although there are some points on which the Woking team still needs to work to extract maximum performance from the MCL38, the prospects appear to be encouraging.
“I don’t think we will fight only with Mercedes. It’s a fight between all the teams,” said Lando Norris post-race.
“Today the race was with Mercedes because Ferrari was too far ahead for us. Even if at a certain point I was thinking of taking Charles.
“Then he found something in terms of balance, and I couldn’t attack him.”
Norris still managed to perform well, although he identified Bahrain’s windy conditions as a limitation for his race pace. In fact, especially in the first stint, there was a performance deficit compared to Mercedes.
This deficit still dropped in the second half of the race, though, also due to technical problems. However, Norris said he was satisfied with having maximized the potential offered by the car on the Sakhir track.
Andrea Stella: “Positive to fight with Mercedes. A good starting point for the MCL38”
“From my point of view, I think starting the season with an eighth place is good,” said Oscar Piastri.
Like his teammate, Piastri also sees encouraging prospects for the continuation of the McLaren season:
“There are some things to improve, but I think it’s a good start also considering where we were last year at this time.”
After the race, Piastri, in discussion with his teammate, explained how one of the biggest difficulties in race-trim was turn 14.:
“It would have been nice if the last corner hadn’t existed,” the Australian said jokingly.
Norris completed the picture by simply stating: “It was shocking!”
Therefore, at McLaren, there is no shortage of points to focus on to improve the car.
However, there are just as many factors that give Andrea Stella’s team some hope.
The Italian explained how the balance at the end of the race was positive, confirming the good starting point of the MCL38.
“We were fast enough to fight against Mercedes,” said the McLaren team principal.
“The team did a great job consolidating last year’s progress and giving us a fast and reliable car.
“Oscar and Lando made no mistakes in difficult conditions, especially with the Hard tyres.”
Author: Loris preziosa
