After its first win of the season in Hungary, McLaren does not intend to ease off and will bring new developments to its MCL40 at Zandvoort.
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McLaren will approach the Dutch Grand Prix with the ambition to confirm its return to the front. The British team won its first Grand Prix of the season just before the summer break thanks to Lando Norris, who delivered a particularly convincing performance in Hungary.
This success came after the introduction of a significant package of developments on the MCL40, including notably modifications to the floor and rear wing. The progress observed at the Hungaroring allowed McLaren to get significantly closer to the grid’s benchmarks.
At Zandvoort, the Woking team will continue on this path with new parts intended to complement the work started in Hungary.
McLaren continues to develop its MCL40
The development will this time mainly focus on the rear part of the car. McLaren will notably introduce a new rear wing as well as new rear brake ducts.
“We have also worked a lot as a team to continue development, with several new parts available this weekend and focused on the rear part,” explains Neil Houldey, technical director of engineering at McLaren.
“They will complement the package introduced in Hungary, with a new rear wing and new rear brake ducts.”
These new features should allow McLaren to continue improving the balance of its car, one of the areas on which the team has worked a lot since the start of this new regulatory era.
Limited preparation time at Zandvoort
The challenge for McLaren will however be to quickly evaluate these new parts. The Dutch Grand Prix will be held under the Sprint format, which means teams will only have one 60-minute free practice session before getting into the heart of the matter.
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An additional challenge while the hierarchy remains particularly tight.
“We arrive at Zandvoort after finishing the last race before the break with a win and a solid performance, but we are fully aware of the closeness of our rivals and the importance of reliability,” emphasizes Houldey.
McLaren also believes it now has a better understanding of its MCL40 after a sometimes complicated first half of the championship.
“We have learned a lot during the first part of the season about how this car must be driven to extract performance, but also about how to manage the problems we faced earlier in the year.”
McLaren now targets the leading teams
Norris’s win in Hungary provided a first spectacular validation of the progress made. But McLaren remains cautious, aware that Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull will also continue to develop their cars.
“We know that other teams will also bring developments. So it will be another tough weekend and our priority will be to extract everything we can from the car,” warns the technical director.
The momentum is nevertheless clearly positive for the British team. After a first half of the season during which the MCL40 was rarely able to fight for victory, Budapest showed that the gap with the best can now be closed on certain circuits.
“If we execute our weekend correctly, we can put ourselves in a position to fight with the front teams.”
Zandvoort will therefore determine whether the Hungarian victory was a performance particularly suited to the characteristics of the Hungaroring or the true beginning of McLaren’s sustained return to the forefront.
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