McLaren targets to improve aerodynamic efficiency of its MCL38

Having debuted a heavily-modified car at Zandvoort, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella reflected on his outfit’s target with the second comprehensive upgrade kit of the season.

The Woking-based outfit debuted its first major upgrade package at Miami, but it has only brought a few minor upgrades since the American round.

However, McLaren turned up at Zandvoort with a comprehensive set of upgrades in the Netherlands.

The upgrade kit includes a redesigned front brake scoop from which the team hopes "improved flow conditions and increased aerodynamic load without compromising brake cooling." To complement this change, the front suspension has also been modified.

Furthermore, McLaren has also altered the rear suspension shape to enhance flow conditioning around the rear corner, diffuser, and beam wing area.

Additionally, the British outfit has brought a completely revised rear wing and beam wing to suit the specific demands of the Zandvoort circuit, increasing overall wing efficiency.

Commenting on the upgrade package, team boss Andrea Stella stressed that while the Zandvoort package is significantly smaller than the Miami upgrade kit, the team hopes to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the MCL38 with the modified parts.

“We have been able to deliver another substantial upgrade, which is nowhere near as large as the one that we took to Miami, but it should be hopefully noticeable in terms of aerodynamic efficiency of the car.

“We took our time after Miami to see in development and convince ourselves that we needed to press the green light and deliver parts trackside. Also nowadays you have limitations in terms of cost, so you just can't bring everything to test at track side, you need to be diligent.

“So we are definitely interested in seeing how the car will respond to these novelties. There will be a few more in the coming races and hopefully this will help us improve the performance of the car overall and keep competing for good results in the race.

Unlike in Miami, the Italian confirmed that both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have received the same upgrade package at the challenging Zandvoort circuit.

“They will have the same specification this weekend. They were split in P1 so that we could understand the effect of the new parts.”

Despite taking the pole position at today’s qualifying session at Zandvoort after a string of very competitive putings in recent races, Stella denies that McLaren would be the quickest team currently.

“ I think there's been a bit of overstatement about the performance of the car. This could have been because we have been competitive on many Fridays and I thought that this was more the result of the good work in terms of preparation that the team do and being ready straight away for a race weekend.

“And then we see that Red Bull, Mercedes, they kind of resolve their issues and become competitive on Saturday or on a Sunday. I think this was very apparent in Austria. On Friday, we were just a few milliseconds off Verstappen. On Saturday, he was four tenths ahead of everybody. And in the race, he was the fastest car.

“So I think we should be a little careful in thinking that McLaren goes to the races and has the fastest car, and separate it from like, ‘oh, we are exploiting the car. We are getting the most out of it and therefore, we are readily competitive’. Said that, we are pleased with what we've been able to achieve in terms of competitiveness of the car.

“And like I said before, I hope that these extra developments and upgrades will give us the possibility to retain this competitive position. Because in fairness, since Miami, we had not brought much lap time to the car itself,” concluded Stella.