F1’s return at the US GP did not go according to plan for McLaren, who saw Ferrari take a commanding 1-2. Not only did the Italian squad show race-winning pace, but they did so without upgrades to the SF-24. In an effort to respond, McLaren have more updates ready for the next two weeks.
McLaren must take risk to win the F1 development war
For a large portion of the season, McLaren’s MCL38 has been comfortably fastest. Several race victories have been squandered by the papaya team in 2024, which has been especially costly for Lando Norris in his battle with Max Verstappen.
Despite this failure to optimise their package, the British squad were beginning to improve their race day execution. Three race wins in four races after the summer break (Zandvoort, Baku, Singapore) put the team in a good position.
Unfortunately for McLaren, Ferrari have made a significant step forward with the SF-24 – which performed at a very high level at the first ‘traditional’ circuit since Spa.
Meanwhile, Red Bull also made a notable forward step with the RB20. Max Verstappen was far happier with his car’s balance in COTA, even if there were some inconsistencies across different tyre compounds.
Andrea Stella confirms more updates are incoming
Having won last weekend’s Sprint and finished ahead of Norris in the race, Verstappen extended his Championship lead.
This gives McLaren very little margin for error – which does not bode well for a team that has dropped so many points.
Speaking after an underwhelming US GP, Andrea Stella explained that more upgrades are on the way:
“I think the next circuit should be a little bit more suitable to the characteristics of our car,” he told the media in Texas.
“We also have to keep developing the car. Like here, we took some developments at the front of the car.
“But they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap-time impact.
“We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races. We will see if we are in condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”
McLaren have no time to waste
The Italian team principal’s final comments indicate that a bigger upgrade package than the one seen in America is incoming.
As previously reported by LWOS, McLaren have deliberately held back on updates on several occasions this season. This hesitancy was primarily motivated by concerns that changes could create the kind of unforeseen problems that came from Ferrari and Red Bull’s mid-season updates.
Moreover, the MCL38 was fast enough – even without updates – to fight for victory in a regular basis.
This is no longer the case, with Ferrari and potentially Red Bull both firmly in the mix for race wins. Whichever upgrades McLaren have in the pipeline will arrive to the car at the earliest possible date.
This is their best chance of preventing Verstappen from retaining his crown and stopping Ferrari from taking the constructors’ title.
