17/06/2023
NEWS STORY
Such is the extent of the MCL60's upgrade that it will be introduced over a number of races and will involve "every single aerodynamic part".
Barely before a wheel had turned, McLaren was aware that its 2023 contender was not the car the team wanted it to be.
Soon, like Mercedes, there was talk of a return to the drawing board, though in the Woking team's case there was even talk of a B-car.
Speaking in Canada, Andrea Stella confirmed that the upgrade will be introduced in stages, beginning with the forthcoming Austrian Grand Prix.
"At the start of the season, we realized that the car needed a fundamental redesign so this redesign is actually interesting," he told reporters.
Asked the extent of the upgrade, he replied: "I would say, pretty much every single aerodynamic part, that's why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races.
"It will be decently noticeable," he added. "We even had to redesign some parts under the bodywork. That's also why it took some time to be in condition to deliver these upgrades. So I would say pretty much the entire car.
“They pretty much deliver more downforce with similar characteristics,” he said of the upgrade. “The key point is whether they will correlate trackside. I think the correlation so far has been good. This generation of cars, in general correlation with development tools, is good, so we expect a few tenths of a second of lap time improvement.
"In terms of upgrades here (Canada), we only have a rear wing which is the version that is most suitable for the level of drag that you adopt at this track.
"Most of the upgrades we will see over the course of the following events, so there will be a major overhaul of the car that will be delivered across Austria, UK and Hungary. In terms of Canada, we definitely prefer the characteristics of Barcelona because the car is strong in high speed corners. Here we have no high-speed corners, quite a lot of low-speed traction so it could be a bit of a struggle. We would certainly welcome some weather."