Why McLaren’s MCL60 is only a small evolution to its disappointing predecessor

McLaren's 2023 challenger, the MCL60, failed to impress over the course of the pre-season testing in Bahrain. The team have revealed that their 2023 car failed to hit their development goals this winter and is a victim of high drag down the straights.

The Woking-based team failed to impress last year, having lost out to Alpine F1 in the 2022 constructors' standings. While Alpine's 2023 car seems mediocre at best, Lando Norris and Co. are nowhere in the fight for third or even fourth place in the title this year.

The team brought on F2 hotshot Oscar Piastri in a bid to make good strides toward the top three teams but is stuck in the mud after pre-season testing in Bahrain. The team failed to hit their targets in the wind tunnel and are hence going to start the new season on the back foot when compared to teams such as Aston Martin and even Alfa Romeo.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown spoke about the situation post-pre-season testing:

"We had set development targets during the winter that we could not achieve. So we're not where we thought we were."

Team principal Andrea Stella added to Brown's comments, saying:

"We will have to be aggressive with the updates. In F1 this is also a challenge among all; the quantity and timing with which developments arrive. We are working on some pieces that will help the performance a lot, but it will not be a B car. We will have to fight to be in the top four cars on the grid and therefore we will have to be aggressive in the development of the car."

McLaren feel the top three teams are out of reach

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reckons the top three teams are currently out of reach for the Woking-based outfit. The team managed to finish the 2022 season in P5, losing out to Alpine in the closing stages of the season.

The team's main goal for the upcoming season is to snatch fourth place away from Alpine and then fight the top three teams. At the moment, Stella claims that competing for race wins is not the British formation's goal due to the massive jump from P4 to P3 in the constructors' title.

Alpine finished fourth last year with a massive gap of 342 points to Mercedes in third place. Meanwhile, the gap between the French team and McLaren was only 14 points, putting them in stiff competition all season long.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said:

"Our main goal is to keep improving, day by day. Realistically, we know with the top three teams at the moment, this could mean that you actually compete for the 4th place, and we would like to be in this position over the course of the season. We are realistic about the short term."

It remains to be seen how the season develops for the team from Woking. It will be interesting to see if the team can return to winning ways in times to come.