McLaren satisfied with its developments

McLaren has she eaten her black bread in 2023? After a complicated start to the season, which the English team had anticipated in the winter, the first changes arrived on the MCL60 as part of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, including a revised and corrected floor.

If the atypical layout of the Baku circuit prevents any definitive conclusion, the orange house was delighted to see its two drivers, Lando Norris et Oscar piastri, invite themselves into Q3 during qualifying on Friday evening. A first this season for the British manufacturer. Norris even took a good 7th place on the grid for the main event.

McLaren did not come far from repeating such a performance during the Shootout, its Australian rookie stopping at the gates of Q3. His British teammate, for his part, managed to climb into the Top 10 on Saturday morning. But a regulatory quirk prevented him from taking part in the final stages of Sprint qualifying..

Norris back in the points

On Sunday, Norris and Piastri both lost a place at the start. The Englishman was then trapped by the timing of the Safety Car, sent onto the track to allow the towing of theAlpha Tauri de Nyck de Vries.

Norris thus found himself stuck in the exhausts of the Haas de Nico Hulkenberg, then on a staggered tire strategy, for a very long part of the afternoon.

He found the opening 6 laps from the checkerboard and took advantage of the late stoppage (and oh so dangerous…) byEsteban Ocon to climb to 9th place and pocket two precious points.

« It was a good race, Norris debriefed. This is a satisfactory result, the best we could aim for. Put it this way, a 9th place isn't an extraordinary performance but it's the best we can do at the moment.

We were a little unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, which came just after our pit stop. I then found myself stuck behind Hülkenberg, but we still scored a few points. The developments also brought a little performance ».

Piastri suffering but happy

11th under the checkerboard, his sidekick Piastri was disappointed to finish just outside the points. “ We lacked a bit of pace in the middle of the Grand Prix, there wasn't much to do, pointed out the former champion of Formula 2, who was also suffering in Azerbaijan. I'm happy to have survived this weekend because I was not feeling well. (…) A big thank you to the team for the developments made here ».

Team principal Andrea Stella welcomed “ an interesting weekend », which made it possible to validate the new features introduced on the MCL60. “ We will see during the next races if the improvement in performance came from the developments or from the track », However, procrastinates the Italian, who wanted to thank the McLaren medical staff for allowing Piastri to hold his place.

In the Manufacturers' Championship, McLaren has taken two new steps ahead of its rival Alpine in the fight for 5th place. A situation that we could hardly imagine at the end of the offseason.