McLaren has justified its decision to not introduce at the US Grand Prix its latest floor upgrade for its MCL38 by its desire to avoid “any confusion” in evaluating other individual components on its car.
The Woking-based team arrived in Austin with a revised front wing, front suspension, rear brake duct furniture, and rear wing. However, the MCL38’s new floor design, currently under development, was not fast-tracked for the event.
McLaren's engineering technical director, Neil Houldey, emphasized the importance of ensuring the floor's effectiveness before manufacturing it.
"We brought a lot of small upgrades for this event. I don't really want to go into too many details about what will appear at the next events, but there'll be more coming, for sure," Houldey explained.
"What we've been doing is just continue our development progress throughout the year and at the moment, it turns out, really, that what we want to do is bring something that we know works.
"So we're not trying to deliver something early. We're in a good position in the championship.
"But what we don't want to do is bring any confusion into the team about the results of the components we're bringing. So we're waiting and bringing them when they're ready.
"We want it on the car. We want the performance on the car as soon as we can possibly get it."
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While the list of McLaren’s updates for this weekend’s event was significant, the scope of the changes was relatively small. Houldey suggested that these updates would provide a performance boost in the future.
Lando Norris, who received the full set of upgrades for Austin, confirmed that the car remained largely unchanged from its Singapore specification.
While the team is confident in the development of its new floor, Houldey stressed that McLaren is not rushing the process.
©McLaren
"Aerodynamically, we already know the upgrades that we're going to be bringing to the next couple of events,” added the British engineer. “So they're ready in that sense, but they're very much in manufacture back at the factory.
"We just bring it to the event that we can get it to in the fastest possible way. So whether it's a sprint or a standard event, doesn't make a difference to us.”
Despite McLaren's push to remain competitive in the constructors' championship, Houldey reiterated that the team is staying focused on its internal progress rather than being influenced by the actions of rival teams.
"From our perspective, we're fully focused on our own technical development, and it's important for us to just focus on where we are and what we bring to the races and not what other teams are doing,” he said.
"We're learning what it's like to be back at the front again. So for sure, the scrutiny that that brings is new to us, and I think we're dealing with it in the right way."
While the decision to delay the floor upgrade may seem cautious, McLaren’s focus on precision and clarity in evaluating its upgrades reflects the team’s commitment to long-term gains as it aims to stay competitive at the sharp end of the grid.
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