McLaren aiming for improved low-speed corner performance from 2022 car

McLaren are hoping their new car will be a more balanced one in 2022 and are keen to improve their cornering at low speed. The Woking-based team's technical director, James Key, claims they are working hard to improve the car after their first season back using Mercedes power.

Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris drove the McLaren MCL35M to P4 in the constructors' standings in 2021. The car was rapid on circuits that favored straight-line speed. This was most evident in Monza, where the team picked up the only one-two finish of the entire season.

The car, however, suffered in low-speed corner situations, primarily owing to its lack of drag. Key and his McLaren team are aware of the shortcomings they had in 2021. He explained their plans for 2022 in an interview with Autosport by saying:

“Efficiency is good. I think what we’ve seen with straight-line braking, which is one of our strengths, and high-speed corners reflects the sort of performance we can generate with the nature of the car we have. What we’re missing is — we did work on this for 2020 and ’21 — try and generate that performance in low-speed. We know why we’re not quite there yet.”

Key went on to add, saying:

“The car isn’t quite as robust as it is in high-speed in the low-speed corners. A lot of the work that went into the ’21 car was to specifically try and address some of these problems. Unfortunately, it isn’t just a silver bullet where we switch it on and suddenly it’s great. It takes a while to get them to work. That’s why we knew Zandvoort would be difficult. Equally how we kind of knew that Monza would be strong.”

With F1 set to go through a revolution of regulatory changes when the new season flags off, McLaren needs to fix their problems post haste. The upcoming pre-season testing sessions will be a great place for them to see the fruits of their labor.

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McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo feels he must 'drive better' on 'bad days'

Daniel Ricciardo believes he needs to drive better on bad or difficult days if he is to ever become an F1 world champion.

The Australian driver spoke about his chances of clinching a world title in the future during an interview with GPFans. He said:

“Unless the car changes from a characteristic point of view, I am going to have to still improve some of my weaknesses. That’s reality. If I want to be in a title fight, I’ve got to still drive this car better on the, call it the bad days or the days that are a bit more difficult.”

32-year-old Ricciardo had an abject first year with the Woking-based outfit. Despite winning the Italian Grand Prix, he was two places behind teammate Lando Norris in the drivers' standings.