McLaren aims to carry momentum forward with early upgrades

McLaren technical director Andrea Stella says the team is already targeting improvements in three key areas of development in the early part of the 2024 season. Team papaya rolled out its new MCL38 on Wednesday, with pictures of a static display followed by a shakedown run at Silverstone. Last year's MCL60 faced muted expectations at the outset due to missed launch targets. However, a mid-season overhaul transformed McLaren’s performance, making it the most improved team in the back half of the 2023 season. The outfit’s new MCL38 builds on this success, focusing on three relative weaknesses: aerodynamic efficiency, grip in slow corners, and tyre interaction. "We had three major objectives," Stella explained. "One was to improve aerodynamic efficiency, the second one was to improve mechanical grip and the third one was to improve the interaction with the tyres. "I wouldn't want to give any proportion, but I would say that we've been able to improve in all these three areas, even though we see that there's potential for further improvements in each of these three areas. "There were a few projects that we had started, that had potential, but just we couldn't finalise them in time to have it on the launch car, so they will very likely become updates for the early part of the season." Read also: McLaren rolls out new MCL38 F1 challenger for 2024 The latter observation by Stella appeared to echo the McLaren tech boss’ warning exactly a year ago about the launch spec of the team’s MCL60 which was described at the time as under-developed by the Italian. But Stella quickly clarified his comment and alleviated any worries that McLaren is set to start its campaign once again at a disadvantage. "I would say it's not that the innovations didn't make it, I think it's more some development projects didn't make it,” he explained. "But when you embark on some development projects, obviously you want to target them to deliver as soon as possible, but there's full room in the way we have designed the car for these projects to land later on onto the car. "There are no restrictions from a layout point of view when some of them become available. So, it's just a matter of the time required for projects to mature, and then be ready to be delivered." McLaren’s aim at the start of the 2024 season is to uphold the strong momentum it enjoyed in the back half of last year, with subsequent updates then carrying the outfit forward for as long as either its budget or development ideas allow. ©McLaren "Once we put the car on the ground, we will see whether we can confirm that, from a development point of view, we have made a step which hopefully keeps the trajectory that we started last year in Austria and consolidated in Singapore,” he said. "There is a budget cap and therefore you should carefully plan your upgrades, because it could be that you become budget-limited rather than development-limited. "We will push as much as possible in development and then once parts or projects are mature, we will trigger the button and we will deliver these parts trackside and then at some stage, we will see if we become budget-limited or ideas and development limited." Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter The post McLaren aims to carry momentum forward with early upgrades appeared first on F1i.com.