After the nightmare years with Honda, McLaren seemed to have found the right path in recent years with Renault engines and in the first few seasons after the return of Mercedes. The first podium in 7 years with Sainz at the 2019 Brazilian GP, third place in the constructors' category in 2020, the return to victory with Ricciardo at Monza in 2021.
Since the beginning of the "new era", a continuous negative trend
Then, with the new regulation, yet another U-turn. The 2022 car was definitely no match for its predecessor, but still led Norris to finish best of the rest and to grab a podium at Imola. For the MCL60, on the other hand, if good morning starts in the morning, 2023 will be a long ordeal.
Also in 2022 in Bahrain the papaya cars had not arrived in Q3 or in the points, but the feeling was that of a bad weekend. In fact, we saw it not even a month later, with both cars in the points in Australia and Norris on the podium at Imola. This year, however, so far nothing has gone right.
The new McLaren, a project born badly
Even before the tests in Bahrain, the engineers of the Woking team had revealed of failing to achieve the goals they set for themselves in terms of efficiency. A B version of the MCL60 is already scheduled for the Baku GP, scheduled for 30 April, which will represent one of the turning points of the season as many teams will bring their first real updates.
The first race of the season, however, was completely forgettable. Piastri retired after just 15 laps, while Norris finished last, in 17th position, with no less than 6 pitstops. The reason? Each time his car had to recharge the pneumatic system of the engine. Not a good sign for a team that is preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of an illustrious Formula 1 career.
Not all news about McLaren, however, is negative. It should be finished by early summer the new wind tunnel, which in all probability will be used to develop the 2024 car. The MCL60 was instead developed in the Cologne wind tunnel, very reliable but expensive as it requires several days for the elements to be transferred from Great Britain to Germany.
