McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both reasonably optimistic that team papaya can take the fight to Red Bull this season, but sustaining a season-long challenge against the reigning world champion will prove difficult.
Last season, McLaren executed a remarkable turnaround. From scrambling for points to regular podium visits, the team’s mid-season transformation was nothing short of remarkable.
From Austria onwards, McLaren amassed a whopping 285 points thanks to the outfit’s comprehensive development programme, its revitalized MCL60 outscoring every team on the grid save for Red Bull to conclude its campaign fourth in F1’s Constructors’ standings.
McLaren’s new evolutionary but nevertheless innovative MCL 38 embodies the Woking-based outfit’s ambition to maintain its upward trajectory and potentially challenge Red Bull.
Only time will tell if they can sustain their momentum and truly challenge the mighty bulls, but Norris is a believer.
“If you were to say ‘are they beatable?’ I think you would have to say yes, and we are going to want to believe we can say yes, because we were very close at certain times, and at certain times we did beat them,” the young Briton said in the wake of McLaren’s car launch this week.
“So the question is can we beat them over a season, because that’s going to be the challenging thing and I think that’s going to be very difficult to do with how well they’re performing.
"So optimistic… Possible to beat them at certain times? I want to believe so, yep.”
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McLaren team boss Andrea Stella suggested that the team’s chances of inflicting more than one defeat upon F1’s leading team will hinge on its ability to uphold the fast-paced development rate it enjoyed in 2023, an assertion echoed by Piastri.
“I think you have to have the optimism that we can beat them [Red Bull],” said the young Aussie.
“I think like Andrea was saying, if we can keep the same rate of development, I think we can be very optimistic.”
However, Piastri notes that McLaren won’t be the only team setting its sights on Red Bull, implying that McLaren will also need to be very attentive to the ambitions of its direct rivals, Mercedes, Ferrari and likely Aston Martin.
“I think we also have to be aware it’s not just Red Bull we are fighting as well, we were in a very intense battle with Mercedes and Ferrari especially in the second half of the year,” he added.
“In terms of championship points in the second half of the season it was incredibly close between us, and we’re all teams that have had a lot of success at various stages.
“So I think we have to be wary, it’s not just Red Bull that we’re fighting and I think there will be other top teams that are making progress as well.”
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Ahead of next week’s reprise in Bahrain, which will host both pre-season testing and the opening round of the 2024 season, McLaren shook down its MCL38 at a wet Silverstone on Wednesday.
Given the conditions, there was little relevant information to take away from the run but Norris felt immediately comfortable behind the wheel of his new mount.
“It’s hard to say just because it was wet here,” he said, when asked about his shakedown.
“You don’t really get that many laps, and it’s on tyres that aren’t even the actual tyres we use, so it’s difficult to compare too many things.
“But the main thing is I jumped in and felt very comfortable straight away, no surprises or anything, so comfortable and could just push it to the limit on just a couple of little areas.
“But, honestly, not a lot more to say than that. It’s always just a very different thing when you get on track for the first time in Bahrain, depending on weather conditions and all of those things.
“So we have to wait till we get to Bahrain to really understand how they will compare to one another.”
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