McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella says the Woking outfit are not getting carried away with their performance in the Australian Grand Prix, in which both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scored points. McLaren had come into the Melbourne weekend as one of only two teams not to have scored Championship points over the first two races of 2023. But last Sunday's eventful race saw only 12 cars take the chequered flag, with Norris finishing sixth and Piastri taking his first F1 points finish in eighth place, resulting in McLaren vaulting up to fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 12 points. However, despite the optimism engendered by a better weekend, Stella said McLaren were keeping their feet on the ground, adding that the race's attritional nature had played into Norris and Piastri's hands. "We [aren't getting] carried away, we know that it was a very eventful race, but it's good to score points," Stella told media, including RacingNews365.com . "We had some difficult races at the start of the season in which we were in contention to score points, but for various issues we couldn't, so it's good now to come off these first few races with some good points."
Stella realistic on Baku update effect
Before the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Stella told media that McLaren were expecting three major upgrades throughout 2023 , with each step said to provide several tenths of a second in lap time gains. However, with the first planned update to arrive before the next Grand Prix in Baku on 30 April, Stella sought to manage expectations as to its transformative effect. "In Baku, we start another step of the season by starting to have some upgrades on the car," said Stella. "We know it's not going to be a game-changer, but it's the first step of what we hope will be multiple upgrades, and we hope we will be in a condition to fight for points in the future on merit, and not only thanks to eventful races."
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