McLaren fears confirmed: 'Going into the first race off of our targets'

Before the new McLaren had even driven a mile, the team management was not very optimistic. The team of Lando Norris and newcomer Oscar Piastri may have started from behind, as the car had not turned out exactly as the English had hoped. During presentation of the MCL60, upgrades were already announced. Tests in Bahrain proved that these were no luxury.

In the first few days of the season, McLaren is making anything but an impression: technical problems and in terms of speed, the team also seems to be lagging behind its midfield competitors. In two days, McLaren completed just 231 laps. Only Aston Martin and Alpine recorded fewer laps over the Bahrain International Circuit.

Updates coming

McLaren CEO Zak Brown did not beat around the bush: his team is playing catch-up. “We, like everyone, have a lot of development coming. So we are encouraged at what we see around the corner. But I think we will be going into the first race off of our projected targets and it’s hard to really know where that means we’ll be on the grid.”

At first glance, Lando Norris in particular seems to have a lot of trouble handling the new McLaren. Several times during testing, he struggled to make the apex. The weight could count as an excuse for the slower times and tricky car control. Indeed, McLaren was driving with a lot of fuel on board on Friday, Brown revealed.