"Brother...that's a new car" - Fans react to McLaren's extensive upgrade package for the F1 Miami GP

McLaren is bringing a truckload of upgrades ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, leaving fans in a frenzy.

McLaren F1 was the team to watch out for in the later half of the 2023 season, and the British outfit has continued to impress in the ongoing campaign. The team has secured two podium finishes so far in the season and has easily been the third best team behind Red Bull and Ferrari.

In a bid to close that gap between the top two teams, McLaren is bringing out a brand new upgrade to it's MCL38 machinery for the Miami GP, and has gone leaps and bounds with the package. Among notable updates is a completely new front wing, new front and rear suspension, a completely revised floor, revised sidepod inlets and revised front and rear brake ducts. Coke/engine cover and cooling louvres have also been upgraded.

Such extensive upgradation has elicited intriguing reactions from the motorsport community online. Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to react to McLaren's upgrade package. One user wrote:

"Brother...that's a new car"

"It's only an upgrade if it works. We'll see, wrote another user.

A third fan commented:

"All this for redbull to just turn up their engine."

"Given Red Bull have only brought one reliability upgrade & Ferrari none, this could be very interesting," suggested a fourth user.

"That’s a whole ass car, let’s see if it cooks," commented another fan.

"I'm interested in this year's ffp because this is early...," wrote a sixth user.

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Oscar Piastri previews McLaren upgrades ahead of sprint weekend

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri provided insights into the team's preparations for the upcoming sprint weekend. Expressing optimism about the upgrades, he said in the media session leading upto the race (via Racingnews365.com):

"It should be a good step forward, hopefully. That's always what you want from updates on the car."

"On a Sprint weekend, it makes it a little bit more difficult to get the most out of them, because you've only got one practice session, but yeah it should hopefully be a decent step forward."

Piastri also highlighted the importance of adaptability in maximizing the potential of the upgraded machinery on the Miami International Autodrome. He said:

"We'll have to wait and see if this track kind of suits us, because last year we chopped and changed quite a bit. But yeah, hopefully it does what it's supposed to do and that would be good."

After five races in the 2024 season, Oscar Piastri is ranked sixth in the F1 Drivers' standings. Piastri, who won the FIA Rookie of the Year award last year, has 38 points to his name.

Meanwhile, his teammate Lando Norris finds himself at fifth. Norris secured two podium finishes so far in the season and has accumulated 58 points so far.