McLaren has no doubts that it needs to bring further upgrades to its Formula 1 car in order not to get beaten by Red Bull at some of this season’s remaining tracks.
The scale of Lando Norris’s advantage over Max Verstappen at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix suggests that McLaren could now hold a clear advantage over its main rival as the fight for the title gets more intense.
But while some tracks coming up on the schedule – like Baku and Singapore – will likely be a big challenge for Red Bull, McLaren thinks that, based on the current performance characteristics of its MCL38 and the RB20, there are other more aero demanding venues like Austin and Qatar where its rival could hold the edge.
“I think if we go to tracks [like Zandvoort], then we can, I think, be confident that we will perform strongly, with high-downforce long corners,” said Stella.
“If we go to tracks where you have very high-speed corners, like in Silverstone, then we know Red Bull are very strong in this kind of layout.
“And still, I think, if you go back to Austria, they will be faster, because in Austria they pulled off like a four-tenth advantage in qualifying.
“But I think thanks to the upgrades now, we will be more competitive even where Red Bull were faster than us potentially.”
Stella thinks that the situation means McLaren needs to get the most out of those weekends when it holds the edge – and must bring developments to its car to close the gap in the areas where it thinks its rival is better.
“We missed the opportunity to see in Belgium who would have been the fastest car in dry condition because of the qualifying and intermediate tyres,” he said.
“But we think that the car in the current configuration is possibly not enough in terms of the performance required to be the best car at every single event. That's why we plan to deliver more upgrades before the end of the season.”
