Come next year’s Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella hopes the ‘quest’ to be Formula 1’s benchmark even on low-drag tracks will be complete.
Since Andrea Stella took the reins at McLaren ahead of the 2023 campaign, he has overseen a rapid rise up the grid for the iconic team, which has gone from having one of the slowest cars at that stage to now one of the fastest. With two race wins achieved in F1 2024 and eight runner-up results, McLaren has thrust itself into the battle for Constructors’ Championship glory, with the gap to leaders Red Bull only 42 points with 10 rounds of the season left to go.
However, Stella still sees work to do, particularly on tracks demanding lower drag levels for higher top speeds. McLaren is only ’50 per cent’ there in fixing that deficiency, according to Stella. By the time Formula 1 returns to Spa next season, he hopes the ‘quest’ will be completed to remove the asterisk of low-drag tracks when it comes to McLaren having the ‘most efficient’ car.
Asked by media whether he is confident that McLaren’s weakness on low-drag tracks is now solved, Stella replied, ‘I think we have gone 50 per cent of the journey. I’m more confident that at high downforce, we have the car in a good place in terms of aerodynamic behavior. But we haven’t yet done a lot of development at lower drag level.’
Stella explained that at Belgium, McLaren was not as competitive as Hungary, stating, ‘It’s not a surprise that for the same, or a little bit better top speed, still, we were losing quite a bit in the second sector. It means that if we want to gain speed, we’ll give up quite a lot of grip. But I hope that in the future, possibly next year in Belgium, we have completed this quest to have the most efficient car even when top speed is important.’
Lando Norris, who picked up his first and only F1 victory so far at the 2024 Miami GP, remains in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship. His deficit to leader Max Verstappen is currently 78 points.
McLaren’s efforts to conquer low-drag tracks are still a work in progress, but with Andrea Stella at the helm, the team is making significant strides. As the next Belgian GP approaches, all eyes will be on McLaren’s ability to complete their ‘quest’ and solidify their standing as a top contender in every aspect of Formula 1 racing.
