McLaren puts rivals on alert with F1 upgrade warning

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has hinted that the team could unleash further F1 upgrades, as he also played down the impact of a significant advantage the team holds.

The MCL38 machine is widely regarded as the fastest car in grand prix racing, with McLaren just 42 points Red Bull's RB20 in the constructors' championship, with the team eyeing a first crown since 1998. 

In the second-half of the season, McLaren will also enjoy more testing time under the Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions than Red Bull, who were leading the standings at the reset point at the end of June. 

This should allow McLaren to bring parts that have been further developed than Red Bull in the title race, and although team principal Stella has played down the impact of the ATR, he has promised fresh upgrades.

"In terms of the ATR, I am not so sure [of the potential impact]," Stella told media including RacingNews365. 

"Red Bull has effectively taken trackside so far more developments into terms of physical parts delivered when you look at the submissions than what we have done. 

"But talking for McLaren, we seem to be now in condition to cash in some of these developments that we have accrued in the background. 

"I would expect that for the second part of the season, we will have multiple paths, and in a way, I am surprised that we have been so competitive, considering that from Miami onwards, we haven't actually brought trackside many new parts.

"It means that the Miami upgrade was big, but there's some upgrades that will come in the second part of the season."

Piastri's verdict

Despite being regarded by many as the fastest car, McLaren has tried to play down the claim, with driver Oscar Piastri believing it is just a matter of track layout and conditions.

'We definitely still do have some different characteristics [to Red Bull]," explained Piastri.

"In my opinion, Budapest is really the only weekend for us where you can clearly say [we were fastest], because even in saying that, if Max got through the traffic quicker, he would have posed a serious threat.

"At other races, Mercedes has looked very strong with Canada and Silverstone very strong and Ferrari have been very quick at certain races as well. 

"But it has been incredibly tight the whole way through and just some days, we've made some mistakes."