Zak Brown and Andrea Stella are lucky that their upgrades worked. If they hadn’t, the first half of 2023 would probably have been the worst in the history of McLaren. The team’s morale would have been at an all-time low and they wouldn’t know which direction to take in F1. Their upgrades also probably helped them to hold onto their star driver Lando Norris for a little while longer.
McLaren upgrading its factory as well
McLaren hasn’t just upgraded its car. The long-awaited wind tunnel and other pieces of technology are finally taking shape. Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have promised that getting these things in-house will help them. It’s time to deliver on that promise.
The McLaren Technology Centre is a beautiful building. But it is lagging behind its rivals. Lando Norris was quick to point that out. He said their building looks very good but their specs are no match for rival teams.
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McLaren in a pickle
When Lando Norris joined, McLaren was coming out of its disastrous Honda partnership. It promised a championship-winning car in a few years. 2019 and 2020 were big improvements, with 2021 being a plateau. However, with the new regulations in F1, McLaren started going downhill. Their latest upgrades have injected new life into their development plans.
Lando Norris acknowledges the new wind tunnel, simulator, and other tech will help them. But he also opines that these things should have been done years ago. Andrea Stella mentions he has made sure there is a good correlation between these machines and the real world.
Meanwhile, David Coulthard raised a valid point. Red Bull still uses a wind tunnel built in the 1960s. That hasn’t stopped them from regularly being among the top 3 constructors. It has definitely not stopped them from making one of the most dominant cars in F1 history.
It’s not just the facilities that matter, but also what you can extract out of it. McLaren needs to make sure it extracts the full potential of these new facilities. Otherwise, Zak Brown and Andrea Stella may see Lando Norris go sooner than they want to.
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