McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has revealed the team could look to fast-track upgrades and place some of next year's parts on its current car. The Woking-based outfit began the current year on the back foot, admitting that it had missed development targets with the MCL60 challenger. After navigating the opening rounds, it introduced a major upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix and immediately took a substantial step forward, with Lando Norris fourth at the Red Bull Ring before podiums in Britain and Hungary as Oscar Piastri also took a career-best fourth at Silverstone. Having now established its own wind tunnel at its factory in Woking , focus is being placed on next year’s car, which the team hopes will commence the new season in a much stronger position compared to its predecessor.
'Depends on the cost'
However, Stella has admitted that it is possible for some parts of its upcoming challenger to be placed on its current car to test their efficiency. "There are a couple of areas that you can develop on next year’s car and think: 'If they are successful, should we release them for this year’s car?'", Stella told media including RacingNews365. But the possibility largely rests on whether the budget allows for such developments. "I don’t want to say which areas but definitely, there are a couple of areas in which we have this approach towards the development," Stella added. "In that case, we have to look at whether can we afford that because it would go beyond what we had planned from a budget point of view. "So it will depend on the cost and it will depend on the project team."
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