McLaren boss Andrea Stella has disclosed that the team has plans to introduce more upgrades to its Formula 1 car as it targets winning both championships in 2024.
The Woking-based squad seized the lead in the Constructors’ Championship last weekend in Baku as Oscar Piastri won and Lando Norris recovered through to fourth.
McLaren has stolen a march on its rivals since bringing updates upon the season’s resumption last month which has elevated it to two victories and a double podium.
But while it has overhauled a struggling Red Bull to harbour a 20-point advantage in the standings, McLaren is not resting on its laurels in the remaining seven rounds.
Instead, Stella has revealed McLaren will have more developments coming to the MCL38 as it strives to help Lando Norris overturn a 59-point gap to Max Verstappen.
“We are definitely working on upgrades for this season,” Stella divulged. “We are now finalising this.
“I don’t want to disclose too much in terms of what and when, but we do have a plan to make the car faster.
“Whether we will be able to do it or not, we will see, because I think we have seen that at this level of development, it’s not an easy task to actually change the specification of the car
and get it to work as you expect in your development tools.
“But that’s also why we took a bit more time to try and make sure that what we bring to trackside is successful.
“So, yes, I can confirm that we have some stuff coming for the next races, and I will let the [FIA] document surprise when they are published.”
Stella denies McLaren has the quickest car
Piastri scored his second career F1 win in remarkable circumstances as he executed a bold move on Charles Leclerc and then repelled immense pressure to triumph.
The Australian’s success was the side’s second win in three races, but Stella has denied that McLaren now possesses the fastest car across all circuit configurations.
“There’s not much to pick at all between the four top teams,” Stella highlighted.
“And when it comes to McLaren, I often hear, ‘McLaren best car, McLaren best car’. I think this is not in the numbers.
“I think in the numbers, McLaren is the best car in some kind of circuits, like Barcelona, Hungary, Zandvoort, for good technical reasons.
“But here [in Baku], I don’t think McLaren did not enjoy any advantage over Ferrari, and I think not even over Red Bull.”
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