The Woking-based team introduced revised sidepods and cooling components at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an attempt to improve straight-line speed.
The Woking-based team introduced revised sidepods and cooling components at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an attempt to improve straight-line speed. However, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri struggled for performance in Baku and at the following round in Malaysia, leaving McLaren uncertain about whether its latest developments had improved the car.
Stella explained that McLaren had been unable to compare the updated package with its previous specification because both cars received the changes at the same time.
“We had doubts about the package we introduced in Baku; we never expected it to be a big step from a lap-time point of view,” Stella said.
“But because we upgraded two cars at a single time, we had no comparison. We thought, ‘Have we made the car slower?'”
The uncertainty continued in Malaysia, where unusually rough track surfaces produced data that did not match McLaren’s usual simulations. Stella described the information as “very weird”, but said the team eventually understood that the circuit’s surface was responsible for the unusual readings.
Singapore provided a more representative environment, allowing McLaren to establish that the Baku developments were not the cause of its recent loss of pace.
The clarification comes during a difficult season for the team, which has fallen to third in the constructors’ championship after dominating much of the previous campaign. McLaren is 239 points behind leaders Mercedes, while Red Bull is just seven points behind in the fight for second place.
Norris has enjoyed strong performances at several rounds, winning twice and finishing third in another, but McLaren’s recent form has been less convincing. He finished fourth in Singapore after a ninth-place result in Malaysia, while Piastri has failed to finish higher than fifth across the last four rounds.
Stella believes the team’s struggles in Baku were influenced partly by power unit optimisation, alongside chassis characteristics that have hurt its performance on long straights. Gear ratios are among the factors McLaren needs to address in its current configuration.
The team principal was nevertheless encouraged that the Singapore weekend helped settle the question surrounding the upgrade package.
“We had doubts for a couple of races, but we welcome the fact that we were able to clarify that there’s nothing wrong going on,” he added.
With the upgrade mystery resolved, McLaren can focus on identifying the remaining weaknesses in the MCL40 as it looks to recover ground in the constructors’ championship.
The next opportunity comes at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, from 23 to 25 October.
