Throughout the weekend in Monaco, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri remained in contention.
While some rivals are struggling to turn their simulation gains into lap time, McLaren have the opposite with Andrea Stella revealing their gains with the upgraded MCL38 are “slightly more” than anticipated.
Lando Norris achieved his first Formula 1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix when McLaren introduced a significantly updated MCL38 on the track.
The ‘good news’ for McLaren according to Andrea Stella
The Briton took the chequered flag seven seconds ahead of Max Verstappen and while McLaren haven’t managed a repeat performance, they were runner-up at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and again in Monaco.
At Imola, Norris put up a strong challenge against Verstappen, finishing just 0.725s behind him at the end of the race. However, in the Monte Carlo street race, Oscar Piastri trailed Charles Leclerc by a significant margin of seven seconds.
McLaren, like Mercedes and Red Bull, has also faced challenges with data correlation between the factory and the track.
However, it has worked to their advantage.
Team boss Stella stated that the observed outcome aligned with our initial expectations, namely an increase in downforce across all conditions.
However, the car’s behavior at low speeds is surprisingly good, exceeding our initial expectations based on our development tools. This is definitely a positive outcome.
However, it is evident that comprehending this matter with precision is crucial. This will enable us to acquire the correct information, allowing us to progress in this particular direction. Notably, this approach appears to be highly lucrative in terms of lap time and also positions us competitively in circuits featuring low-speed corners.
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“It’s not just limited to low-speed; this aspect of the upgrades may actually perform slightly better than anticipated,” he commented, emphasizing its widespread impact.
We are still uncertain as to why the car has suddenly become quite good at low speeds. We don’t want to make hasty conclusions, as it’s crucial for us to find the most accurate explanation to this question.
Understanding the precise reasons behind the car’s newfound competitiveness in low-speed is crucial as it presents a significant opportunity for future advancements.
However, he argues that it is not a correlation problem; rather, it is simply McLaren’s upgrades functioning as anticipated, resulting in improved lap times for the car.
He explained that we need to distinguish between the correlation and the measurements we track with the expected data. From this perspective, things are going as anticipated.
“However, when considering these upgrades and the improved aerodynamic efficiency they offer, it begs the question: what lap time advantage do they provide?”
After conducting your simulation, it appears that you will achieve a gain of X. However, it turns out that you actually gain X along with a slight increase.
“It’s not just the correlation between development and trackside that matters. It’s rather the fact that the premium in terms of lap time appears to be slightly larger than what one would simulate.”
McLaren are third in the Constructors’ Championship on 184 to Red Bull’s 276 while Norris trails Verstappen by 56 points in the Drivers’ standings where he is P3.
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