"We’ve got another new package to come"- McLaren to bring another major upgrade before end of season

McLaren have said that they plan to bring in another major upgrade before the end of the season. The Woking-based squad did not have the best start to the season, suffering from overheating brakes in Bahrain. They have recovered from that and have been one of the competitive teams in midfield.

However, McLaren were arguably the fourth fastest team last season and are now behind Alpine in terms of performance and the championship. McLaren trail the Enstone-based team by 18 points, and the competition is going to be intense.

To prepare for the challenges in the rest of the season, McLaren have things in the pipeline that include a major upgrade followed by a few smaller ones. The team's technical director James Key said:

"With regards to the actual packages of updates we’ve done, it has been an aggressive approach. For each development step, we have done a lot of work on them, and they last for a duration of five or six races, and each package has then worked as planned, producing several tenths of performance each step, so we’re happy with that."

He added:

“We’ve got another new package to come, which we are working on now, and then there will be a few minor ones to follow in the remaining races. I would say that we’ve brought a lot to the track, and we’ve gotten what we wanted from it. However, I think the standards that we’ve seen within the top three teams show what you’ve got to be able to achieve."

McLaren have garnered 107 points this season and are fifth in the constructors standings.

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McLaren focussing on starting next season from stronger position

Key has said that McLaren have struggled this season, as they started on the back foot and had to develop the car aggressively. The aim for the next season would be to start with a more competitive car. He said:

“If you start the season with a competitive car, you can adapt your development plans from there and do less than what we have done whilst being more focused on the areas that you feel will be the most prolific. That’s where we want to be next year, as we wouldn’t be able to maintain this aggressive level of development because it’s full on. We can learn a lot from this year, and the team have done a great job to achieve what they have.”

Ahead of the Singapore GP early next month, McLaren are in a battle with Alpine for P4. It will be very interesting to see if their drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo can help usurp Alpine.