McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team can be encouraged by the performance of the MCL60 despite being plagued by issues at Formula 1’s Bahrain opener.
McLaren entered the new season braced for a difficult start after opting to change its development direction with its MCL60 late in 2022, with the first upgrade since that in-house change not due to arrive until Azerbaijan in late April.
Lando Norris qualified in 11th place, having initially scraped through to Q2 at the expense of Williams’ Logan Sargeant, while debutant Oscar Piastri was eliminated in Q1.
Piastri’s maiden race lasted only 13 laps as an electrical issue within the steering column interfered with gear shifts. McLaren attempted to remedy the problem with a steering wheel change but Piastri was unable to continue in the race.
Norris’ prospects were compromised by a pneumatic pressure leak which meant he had to pit every 10 laps for a refill; McLaren kept him in the race “in case there was a late safety car to try and see if there’s an opportunity,” Stella affirmed.
It meant Norris, who joked that at least McLaren had plenty of pit stop practice, ended the race a twice-lapped 17th in the sole remaining MCL60.
The result leaves McLaren at the foot of the Constructors’ Championship but Stella was buoyed by the level of performance displayed in Bahrain.
“I think the most positive element is without issues Lando would have been a strong contender for points,” said Stella.
“The pace of the car in the race was almost beyond expectation.
“I think in the race we see some reward of the work we did over the winter in trying to improve the interaction between the car and the tyres.
“This was certainly a strong position on Lando’s side, but also Oscar actually was having good degradation in the first stint: he overtook cars, it was a very tight race, so we could have been in the points with two cars – that’s the most positive outcome of this event.”
Stella added that “before coming [to Bahrain] I thought Q3 was difficult, and points would have been difficult, but they were up for grasp – let’s say it like this – more than I thought.
“The other element we have to acknowledge is the midfield – not only the midfield – but the racing is close; without the [virtual] safety car I’m not sure there would have been people one lap down without issues.
“I think if we race well, and can improve the car by a few tenths like we plan to do, we can have some enjoyable races soon hopefully.”
McLaren is due to bring minor upgrades to Saudi Arabia and Australia ahead of its sizeable update package in Azerbaijan.
