McLaren explain key difference in history repeat hope

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has detailed a major difference facing the team as it looks to repeat its famous 2023 form turnaround this year.

The Woking-based squad entered the campaign as the reigning double champions but has faced a variety of setbacks thus far.

Separate pre-race issues for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in China saw both cars fail to take the start of the race, adding to the pain of Piastri's DNS at the opening round from Australia.

But when the car has run on the track, it has been unable to match the pace of leaders Mercedes.

Three years ago, McLaren was positioned towards the rear of the pack before a successful upgrade cycle saw it move towards the head of the order.

Having been on the back foot before, Stella insisted its current situation is leading to thoughts of its 2023 comeback.

“We are very determined to create a similar path of development to what we had in 2023,” Stella told media including RacingNews365.

“Carrying the momentum into the following season led us from scoring podiums in 2023 to being double champions in 2025.”

However, Stella detailed that there is a significant difference when it comes to the launch specs of both challengers, meaning the current situation can't be compared to 2023.

“There’s a fundamental difference to 2023 - this car that we have at the moment is a solid platform,” he said.

“If anything, it’s likely underdeveloped, there’s nothing in the car that is not sound conceptually. It just needs to be developed further, but following the conceptual lines that we have outlined in the launch phase of this car.

“In 2023, we needed to rectify some designs, pursue some different aerodynamic concepts, because the concept that we had in 2022 and into 2023 would not have taken us very far.

“We needed to sort of go back to the drawing board, redesign more conceptually, what aerodynamic flow field we want to achieve and then review the geometries quite extensively.

“Instead, the journey for this car will be more about accelerating the development along principles that we think are sound - if anything, still a little too below the line of development, or where Ferrari and Mercedes seem to be at the moment.”