McLaren set for further pain after major upgrades declaration

McLaren has revealed it is set for further pain with its MCL40 F1 car until it is can deliver upgrades "in a few more races."

The reigning back-to-back world champions have started F1's new era in a battle for the third-fastest team, along with Red Bull, behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

In Australia, Oscar Piastri qualified 0.862s slower than pole-sitter George Russell, with Lando Norris finishing 51s behind Russell in the race.

The team is third in the constructors' standings after the Albert Park opener, 33 points behind Mercedes, although this gap was exacerbated by Piastri's DNS. 

Reflecting on the position the Woking squad finds itself in, one of its technical directors has conceded that fresh upgrades to solve the pace deficit to Mercedes and Ferrari would not be coming in the short-term. 

"We have gathered and analysed lots of data across multiple areas since the MCL40 first took to the track in January’s shakedown, and last weekend’s first race of the season in Australia provided the team with further valuable information as we continue our journey of development and learning under the new regulations," said technical director for applied technology, Neil Houldley.

"To see the car in various scenarios under racing conditions for the first time was a good opportunity for new knowledge progression, and we understand that there is still a lot to do as we continue to work hard to further exploit the performance of the power unit while also putting additional focus on areas such as improving grip in corners.

"The next few races will continue to see this focus in place as we look to extract the maximum performance from our current configuration. 

"There is a lot of effort by the team, both trackside and in Woking, to develop the car, but we are aware that this will take a few more races to be in a position to bring any major upgrades to the track.

"Therefore, going into this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, we have collectively taken all of our learnings from Melbourne and regrouped as a team together with our HPP partners to make sure that we deliver as much performance as possible to put the team in a strong competitive position for opportunities in both Saturday’s Sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix."