P1racenews AI automatic summary:
McLaren boss Andrea Stella reckons Red Bull’s choice to allocate resources to 2024 earlier last term has created the perception
McLaren, after a significant improvement from being backmarkers to podium contenders in the last season, was expected to challenge Red Bull closely. However, Ferrari has quickly emerged as a strong competitor, securing five podium finishes and a 1-2 position in Australia, placing them comfortably in second in the championship standings. McLaren, though, remains in the fight and grabbed second place in Shanghai thanks to Lando Norris taking advantage of Ferrari’s off weekend. Despite Red Bull pausing the development of cutting-edge car designs with the RB20, McLaren’s Stella believes the team is on an upward trajectory. He pointed out that while it may seem like McLaren has fallen behind, it’s because they made significant progress while Red Bull was not actively developing. Stella emphasized the importance of continuing their development pace over the next year to potentially challenge Red Bull as the established second team. He confirmed McLaren will introduce upgrades to the MCL38 in the upcoming Miami race to close the small performance gap and keep up in the fierce competition of Formula 1.
