UNITED KINGDOM: As the start of the 2023 F1 season approaches, Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz has warned that McLaren is facing a “tough start” to the season.
According to Kravitz, the team’s poor performance during testing in Bahrain has left them lagging behind their targets. Despite averaging over 100 laps per day during the three days of testing, McLaren clocked the lowest number of laps of any team on the grid.
Technical issues surrounding the wheel brows on the MCL60 meant that Lando Norris managed just 40 laps on his first day of testing overall.
Kravitz quickly clarifies that McLaren was not holding back its performance. He believes that the team will struggle in the season-opening race in Bahrain.
The F1 commentator also noted that the second year after a significant rule change divided the grid into two camps: those who got it right last year and those who didn’t. Mercedes, for example, have not changed their concept, but they are still struggling to find a race-winning pace.
In contrast, Red Bull and Ferrari have seen their concepts bear fruit. Aston Martin changed its concept mid-season last year and is now seeing the benefits of that change.
Alfa Romeo/Sauber also changed its concept from last year to this year and still has to catch up to match the pace set by leading teams.
McLaren is one of the teams that changed its concept most notably. It went back and down another route, and in doing so, it failed to hit its performance goals for this year.
However, Kravitz believes that McLaren made the right move, and the team will end up with a quicker car than it would have had if it had kept its old concept.
Last season, McLaren found itself in a similar situation heading into the start of the season. Neither Norris nor Daniel Ricciardo was able to get into contention in Bahrain in 2022, and the team finished P14 and P15.
The hope for McLaren this season is that it can repeat last year’s performance, with Norris taking McLaren’s only podium of the 2022 F1 season a few races later.
Although it is a long season ahead, McLaren will need to turn things around quickly to stay competitive in the early stages of the championship.
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