Did McLaren's latest upgrade work? Not even McLaren is sure yet

McLaren is one of several teams that needs more time to understand the impact of their updates on the broader competitive picture in Formula 1, according to team principal Andrea Stella.

Rival Mercedes introduced an update for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia that appeared to hurt its overall competitiveness, while Red Bull took a big step forward with new parts introduced in Baku. McLaren also had an update in Azerbaijan, but Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggled to fight for the podium positions at each of the last two races. According to Stella this underlines the difficultly in reading the season.

“We see a scenario in Formula 1 which seems to be changing pretty rapidly,” Stella said. “In Hungary, we took some upgrades and we were in condition to have a pole position [and victory] in Hungary, Zandvoort and then we were in condition to do pole position and pretty much victory in Madrid without the Virtual Safety Car. Then very rapidly - and interestingly, as we took upgrades as well–- the picture changes.

“I think we have to take a look at our own development. We don't see any anomaly in our data, but we have to acknowledge that potentially some competitors have developed their car with bigger steps that we did. It's a very specific condition in Malaysia, so I think we should give ourselves more time.

“I'm sure this is the same kind of review that (they'll) have next door in the paddock here at Mercedes. It's a very special condition here in Malaysia, so I think we'll have to understand the behavior of the cars better.

“And also here Ferrari were very, very strong. [Lewis] Hamilton was out there with Lando [on slicks], and from that position he managed to recover several positions overtaking cars through the race, meaning that he was definitely one of the best cars out there.

“I think we need to give ourselves some more time. I'm personally not in a condition to say if Singapore will be now more suitable or not because from a track layout point of view, we thought that [Malaysia] would be a decent circuit for us. And this because of the uncertainty caused by the new scenario from a competitive competitiveness point of view, but also because we might have to understand the upgrades that we took ourselves a bit better, and Singapore will give us a better answer.”

Stella said there has not been an obvious failure point within the team that he would address from either of the past two races, but admitted he hopes the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix will help provide more clarity on where McLaren stands in the pecking order. 

"At least for the conditions that we had in Malaysia and in Baku, it's not like in hindsight we see ‘Oh we should have run the car in a different set-up’. Basically, we reviewed the data and we think that the car operated where it should have operated to extract the downforce and the mechanical grip.

"If anything, it's more about the potential of the car, and we actually increased the potential of the car with the upgrades – the information we have tells us that that's the case. It's more the competitiveness on track that tells us, ‘Oh we seem to have lost some ground relative to the others’.

“But at the same time the others have also improved, and in Formula 1 it is all relative to what the others do. So it's difficult to understand these things. Also, like I said, and I repeat it, in Malaysia, there's some conditions, even the tarmac conditions, they make the car operate in a weird way, not only from a tire's point of view. So I think we need to observe the car, the upgrades and the relative competitiveness in Singapore and then we'll go with the final races.

“There will be actually some more stuff coming for the final races, so hopefully we will be able to make another step ourselves and be in a condition once again to fight for podium.”