For the first time since 2012, the McLaren team went into the summer break and secured second place in the Constructors’ Championship. Shortly before that, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri visited the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, where they summarised the results of the first part of the season.
“It’s unlikely that any of us dreamed that we would be able to win races this year, especially just a year and a half after the not very confident start to last season,” Oscar admitted. “But miraculously the team has turned the situation around and I am very happy to be involved in its success.
The scale of this success may surprise us a little, but if you manage to win more prizes than you thought, then that is a pleasant surprise.”
After introducing a huge package of upgrades to the MCL38 chassis at the Miami round, the team literally took it to the next level. In the last ten races, Norris and Piastri have reached the podium eleven times and won two, and there could have been more victories.
“At the end of last year our car was only fast on certain circuits and to get good results we had to count on success on those stages,” Oscar continued. – In 2024 we are fast everywhere, which is very nice, but what really gives everyone confidence is the fact that in fast corners we don’t have to rely only on speed, unlike last year. Now we are confident that on every circuit we will be one of the fastest, if not the first, in terms of speed.
I feel that the more good results I get, the more confident I am as a driver and the more I learn during my second season in Formula 1.”
The pace of progress already has us dreaming of winning the Constructors’ Championship this year, although according to McLaren Racing Executive Director Zac Brown, he and his team were hoping to reach this level only in 2025.
“We are going to try to stay at this level. The team is in top form, we trust each other, we work well together, and for us this is the most important thing,” Lando concludes. – This is our strength. That is why we achieve such results and become one of the best teams in the championship, if not the best.”
With ten races to go, McLaren are second in the constructors’ championship ahead of the second half of the season, just 42 points behind leaders Red Bull Racing. A year ago, they were fifth in the teams’ standings after 14 stages and 468 points behind the championship-winning team, so their progress has been surprising, and no exaggeration.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
