A year ago, Lando Norris took 7th place in the Belgian Grand Prix, but this season his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri took 2nd place in Spa, and this is not only explained by the fact that the Australian’s skill has grown noticeably in this time.
In 2023, the McLaren car’s drawbacks manifested themselves mainly on circuits that require little downforce, and the classic Belgian circuit, with its long straights that require good top speed, falls squarely into this category. But this year, the Woking team has at least partially figured out this problem and expects to eliminate it completely in 2025.
“I think we have solved the problem by 50 percent, and now our car makes a good impression,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told Austrian publication Motorsport magazine. – On the track, the MCL38 behaves as we want it to, especially in terms of aerodynamics.
But so far we haven’t had the opportunity to fully test the car in a configuration designed for low drag. So I’m not surprised that we were less competitive in Belgium than in Hungary. In Spa we always lost in the second sector of the track, and if we tried to increase the maximum speed, it would entail a significant loss of grip.
But I hope that in the future – maybe next year in Belgium – we will have the most efficient car.”
Given McLaren’s rapid progress, it’s likely that these predictions will come true. But in less than two weeks, the MCL38 will have to undergo another test at Monza, as the famous Italian circuit requires the minimum pressure level of any world championship.
A year ago Norris was the best McLaren driver there, finishing 8th.
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.
