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McLaren boss Andrea Stella felt that the 2023 F1 Miami GP was a reality check for the team as it gave a clear idea of the work that still needs to be done. McLaren came to Miami on the back of two points finishes in Australia and Baku. Even in Miami, the weekend started with a bang as the car was quite competitive on Friday.
However, as the weekend progressed, things got worse and worse. As a result, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were first eliminated in Q1. Then in the race, neither of the two drivers could make substantial progress through the field and hence could not score any points.
Looking back at the race, Stella admitted that McLaren needed an incident or two to climb the field. When that did not happen, it was stuck in the field and could not make much progress. Terming the weekend a reality check, Stella said,
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“The main takeaway is that after a decent weekend in Baku from a performance point of view, we had a reality check. The information we gained here helps us understand that some development directions still need to be pursued, like improving the car in off-brakes, off-throttle. At the moment, the car just doesn't work in this condition. At tracks like this, this becomes too much of a limitation.”
McLaren driver upset with De Vries for the first-lap incident
McLaren driver Lando Norris was not too happy with AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries after the GP in Miami. In the race, De Vries plowed into the back of Norris and caused damage to the car. As a result, the race that was already compromised for Norris got even worse.
Talking about the incident, while Norris tried to shrug it off, he did feel that the Dutch driver needed to be a bit careful. He said,
“I don't know what happened. I just got hit. He's done that a bit lately, so he needs to try braking a little bit earlier, but it didn't change my day.”
The Brits are now level with Alpine in P5 in the standings. It will be interesting to see how the methodical upgrades on both cars impact their competitiveness.
