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BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 23: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during day three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 23, 2024 in Bahrain, Bahrain.

McLaren reveal key improvement in 2024 with MCL38

After a much-improved 2023 season, the Woking team wants to take the next step, becoming a championship contender

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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says that improved rear grip is a key improvement on the new MCL38 from the MCL60 last year.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 23: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during day three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 23, 2024 in Bahrain, Bahrain.
Norris and Piastri will be able to push more comfortably with a better rear-end of the car (Image Credit: Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

The Woking-based outfit had a successful 2023 season, after a worrying start. The team became Re Bull’s closest challenger, securing multiple podium finishes and a sprint race victory through Oscar Piastri in Qatar.

With the new season coming up, McLaren hope to close the gap to Red Bull at the top and fight for race wins. The Woking team feel that there is no excuses not to do so now after moving into its new wind tunnel.

McLaren has had a decent two days of testing in Bahrain so far. However, the team did encounter a slight issue with the fuel tank, costing valuable track time with its race runs.

Weaknesses have been improved

Although the British team ended the season with a solid car, it still had its flows. The MCL60 suited tracks with high-speeds more than the low-speed circuits. The MCL60 would often struggle in the low-speed corners, putting the power down with its traction.

Stella believes that the team has done a good job solving the weaknesses that were experienced last year:

“I think some of the weaknesses have been improved. For instance, we are happier with the grip at the rear axle, which was one of the aspects that we wanted to work on. Overall there is more grip in the car.”

Despite the improvements, Stella believes that it will cause a busy development programme for the MCL38 throughout the year.

“There are some aspects that we still have some work to improve, save the fact that the major performance opportunity remains overall grip.

“It’s not like you need to correct features, you just have to put more grip on the car, which mainly comes from aerodynamic performance.

“But we have some more margin to improve, also from a mechanical point of view. And also in terms of interaction with the tyres. So in all these three aspects we plan to bring developments over the course of the season.”

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 23: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during day three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 23, 2024 in Bahrain, Bahrain.
McLaren will hope to close the gap to Red Bull this season (Image Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Car is as predicted

Stella emphasised the importance of the MCL38 performing as predicted so far, especially after the issues experienced last year with the MCL60.

“I would say that starting from a performance point of view, the car delivers what we expected,” he said. “So no big surprises, which in itself is some good news, because there’s some elements of innovation in the car.

“I think the car is a good foundation for development, and is a step forward compared to last year’s car.

“But, overall, I can see that many cars have made the step forward, which is normal. Everyone finds performance in every week of development.

“There’s one car that seemed to have found a big step. Unfortunately, the car that was already the quickest last year.

“I would say the [chasing] group was already quite compact last year, and to me it looks like even more compact this year.”

Feature Image Credit: Mark Thomson via Getty Images

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