McLaren consider extreme set-up for Russia

McLaren are considering opting with a more extreme set-up on their MCL33 at the Russian Grand Prix to try and improve their straightline speed performance.

The MCL33 has been disappointing this season (admitted by Zak Brown) and it has had more drag than their rivals and it has not been helped by a gear ratio choice that doesn't work too well on long straights.

The gear ratio problem, however, cannot be solved - with teams stuck with them for the season, but McLaren still have hope they can make some aerodynamic changes which will benefit their straightline speed.

McLaren did something similar in Italy and it worked, and the Woking-based side are considering trialling this yet again.

"I think some of the ideas we tested in Monza where we improved on Saturday were more for drag reduction, so will be implemented," McLaren driver Fernando Alonso explained.

Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director of McLaren, says that this isn't definite yet because they haven't discussed it too much.

"I won't get into details obviously," de Ferran told Motorsport.com. "We always try to do the best we can and step forward. We're trying to get a little bit of aero developments every race but that's not the only thing: we're exploring different spaces.