McLaren is not getting carried away with double points in Australia and they don’t think the updates is going to be gamechanger.
Having had a difficult start to its campaign and acknowledging the aero shortcomings, McLaren had a decent outing in Australia with points scored by both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a grand prix which became a race of attrition where they survived.
Pace wise, McLaren were thereabouts if not fully inclined in the Top 10. Norris, in particular, had points on cards while Piastri stayed out of trouble and benefited from others misery to sneak in. But the team is not getting carried away by it and is remaining realistic.
They know in order to finish fifth in the constructors’, they will have to dig deep and improve the car. “It’s important because it was an uncomfortable position to have not scored points and it’s important because ultimately P5 at least is what we are racing for this season,” said McLaren team boss Andrea Stella to media.
“At the same time, we don’t get carried away, we know that we scored the 12 points in particular circumstances and if we don’t improve the car we are not going to stay P5. I would like to say that this result will have to be converted by the 700 people that work trackside and in Woking into even further energy to develop the car and score regularly thanks to having a quick car.”
They do have updates coming in Baku but they won’t be gamechanger as per the McLaren chief. It will only be the first step towards the recovery road that they have in place post acknowledging the situation and re-structuring its team.
“We don’t get carried away, we know it was a very eventful race but as I said, it is good to score points and after we had some difficult races at the start of the season in which we were in conditions to score points but due to various issues we couldn’t,” said Stella. “So it is good now to come off this first three races with some good points.
“And we know that in Baku we start another step of the season and starting towards adding some upgrades to the car. It is not going to be a gamehanger but it is going to be the first step to what we hope will be multiple upgrades and we hope we will be in conditions to fight for points in the future on merit and not only thanks to having eventful races,” summed up Stella.
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