During the summer shutdown, we argued that McLaren’s good form so far this season could be even better in the second half of the season. Why? Some may point to McLaren correcting strategic mistakes made in the first half of the season, but the deeper reason is that the team has only brought one significant upgrade package to the track so far this year, at the Miami Grand Prix. With team principal Andrea Stella saying there are more to come, McLaren has room for further improvement.
That process appears to have begun at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The sport’s governing body said:Car presentation submissionAn ‘F1 Car Preview’ was presented by each team on Friday morning, outlining the new components each team will be introducing this weekend. McLaren will bring two ‘track specific’ upgrades to Zandvoort (a high downforce rear wing and a high downforce beam wing), whilst also bringing four general performance upgrades.
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Perhaps the most interesting of these upgrades is the refinement of the floor’s edge, which, according to the team’s filing, “…improves both the local and
By directing the load around the edges of the floor and regulating the flow, the overall performance of the floor is improved.”
Albert Fabrega, a talented F1 technical analyst, took photos of the revised floor edges at Zandvoort.
Photo taken from the pit lane The last time the Floor Edge was shown was at the Miami Grand Prix. Apple News Embeds from Threads don’t appear automatically, so you have to click on the link to see the photo.
Of course, all of these upgrades need to work properly for McLaren to perform stronger in the second half of the season, but if FP1 is any indication, the upgrades may be working well for McLaren. As the weather eased, Lando Norris topped the timesheets ahead of Max Verstappen, with Oscar Piastri in seventh place.
There’s still a long way to go, but McLaren is off to a solid start with its new upgrades.
