(Motorsport-Total.com) – Even though McLaren was able to secure pole position and a convincing victory on the twisty Hungaroring, team principal Andrea Stella believes that Ferrari still has the best car on the grid – at least when it comes to the chassis. “If you combine the best corners of Leclerc and the best corners of Hamilton, they probably still had the highest potential,” says the Italian.
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This refers to the qualifying on Saturday, where Lando Norris somewhat surprisingly took pole position for Stella – albeit only by 0.012 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari favored by the team principal.
The resurgence of the world champion team was mainly due to a comprehensive upgrade built around a new floor. Previously, McLaren had already equipped a new Mercedes engine specification, which made its debut in Belgium, but according to Stella still showed some inconsistencies there that were eliminated in Hungary.
“Overall, that brought a certain lap time improvement, which we honestly did not think would be enough for pole position in Hungary,” said the team principal.
In the race, it got even better for McLaren, as Norris won with a lead of more than 15 seconds. Nevertheless, Stella does not believe that his team currently has the best car: “I think Ferrari still has the best chassis in terms of grip in the corners,” he says.
“This is very evident when braking. Their performance in turn 1 and turn 12 – when braking and turning into the slow sections – is still a good step ahead of everyone else. When you take turns 1, 12, and 13, we still lose a significant amount of time.”
However, McLaren has been able to improve in medium-speed and fast sections and made up time especially on the straights, even though there are not many of those at the Hungaroring. “In my opinion, that is the advantage of running the HPP power unit” – that is, the Mercedes engine.
Is half a second still needed?
The question now is whether McLaren can maintain its strong form over the next races, as Zandvoort is next on the calendar, another circuit that is rather tight and twisty, although the corners are much smoother and faster to drive than at the Hungaroring.
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“If we want to stay in this position, we have to keep improving the car,” Stella knows and expects that they will need to find another half second by the end of the season to continue fighting for wins.
However, the Hungary upgrade is only supposed to be the first part of improvements to be brought over the next weeks. “There will be quite a bit coming for the next races,” promises the team principal.
“I have to say that this year almost all the top teams – as far as I can judge – have been successful in introducing updates. I think that is because the regulations are still relatively immature and the possibilities for car development are almost like low-hanging fruit that you can just pick.”
“Therefore, I don’t believe McLaren has any special advantage with the motto: ‘Oh, everything we bring is a success.’ I think by now everyone is doing a good job when it comes to bringing successful upgrades,” he says.
“We don’t want to give up this season”
“In my opinion, it will be more about how many upgrades the top teams have delivered so far and will deliver for the rest of the season. Because we are only halfway through this season. So it is still too early to say whether this is a turning point for McLaren or not,” says Stella. “We just look at the facts. The fact is that the upgrades worked as planned.”
Of course, that is also hoped for the upcoming upgrades that should bring McLaren further towards the top so that they can consistently fight for wins. “And that is honestly our goal, because we don’t want to give up this season; we are only halfway through,” emphasizes Stella.
Whether McLaren can become a threat again in the championship is another question. In the drivers’ championship, Lando Norris is currently already 91 points behind Kimi Antonelli. In the constructors’ standings, the Papaya team is already 159 points behind Mercedes.
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