The Woking-based squad produced another strong podium finish in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, as Lando Norris came home in second place behind race winner Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.
The result was especially encouraging because it came at the high-downforce Marina Bay circuit that had not been expected to play to the strengths of its 2023 MCL60 package.
But a raft of upgrades (analysed below) aimed at improving its low-speed performance appeared to pay off as the team continued to build up the strong progress it began at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
With Norris himself admitting that there were still some inherent characteristics in the car that were not to his liking, team principal Andrea Stella has echoed the suggestion that there is a lot more to do.
“I think we have gained a good understanding of where the limitations in low speed are coming from,” he said. “They have to do with some mechanical aspects and some aerodynamic aspects.
“On the aerodynamic side, that package we have here has addressed a portion of these limitations but actually there's still quite a lot of work to do.
“I will say that from the car we had in Bahrain, with the improvement in Baku, then in Austria, and then here, we haven't even achieved the 50% of where we would like the aerodynamic behaviour to be to solve these sorts of issues.
“I think what is good is that now we have an understanding of what to tackle. But this requires some more work. And it should be embedded into next year's car. Again, not 100%, because it will be a bit of a journey.”
McLaren’s Singapore GP upgrade continued the development thread we have seen since the Azerbaijan GP, with the front-to-back makeover changing virtually every sinew of the MCL60.
Adaptations to the front wing centre on the endplate, with the entire surface now twisted from the centreline to encourage more outwash and provide more real estate for the diveplane (new version upper right inset, below).
This has resulted in some subtle geometrical adjustments to the trailing edge of the endplate and the lower flap juncture (blue arrow, inset).
There is quite a considerable amount of renovation work undertaken with the MCL60’s new floor too, some of which is out of sight.
But while we are unable to fully unravel any changes to the intricacies of the underfloor, the external changes to some of the features do offer up tell-tale signs of what might have been adjusted.
Source: Autosport