The Latest Breaking News from McLaren

Ricciardo, paid by McLaren to leave the team for this season, was called to replace sacked AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries from Hungary. But two rounds later, the Australian crashed in practice at Zandvoort, sustaining a broken metacarpal in his left hand and flew to Spain for immediate surgery.

With its two drivers on slightly offset strategies at Suzuka, McLaren had to ask Piastri to let Norris through at one point to ensure that they did not waste time fighting each other and risk squandering the team's prospects for a double podium finish.

The Woking-based outfit recently ended a long-running deal it had to use Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne, as it shifted its programme to its own new facility in Woking. 

The aim of the update was to reduce some of the losses being generated along the floor's length, which in-turn will have helped result in an uptick in performance too. 

A surge in competitiveness by McLaren since a mid-season upgrade has left the Woking-based squad just 49 points behind Aston Martin in the fight for fourth place in the constructors' championship.

Analysis by Buzz Radar, a social intelligence company of social media patterns, has highlighted how the 2023 campaign has triggered a dramatic U-turn in F1’s impressive growth in recent years.

After a disappointing Japanese Grand Prix weekend, where Mercedes found itself appearing to have only the fourth-quickest car, it is aware of just how far ahead Red Bull remains right now. 

Hirakawa, who currently races in both Super Formula and the World Endurance Championship as a Toyota driver, was unveiled as the latest addition to McLaren’s pool of reserve drivers at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Since the first stage of an intense programme of upgrades appeared in Austria Lando Norris has secured four second places, while his team-mate Oscar Piastri earned his first podium with third place in Japan last weekend.