World News – US – McLaren Takes ‘Next Step’ With F1 Upgrades

McLaren thinks they have taken the "next step" in understanding its upgrade package, after an encouraging performance so far at the Portuguese Grand Prix

CAMEROON MAGAZINE - GM25/10/20202 Mins read73 Views

Carlos Sainz having been left with serious doubts about the benefits of updates at the Nürburgring, the team had a much smoother time at the Algarve circuit

And after locking in the fourth row of the grid with Sainz seventh on the grid and Lando Norris eighth, McLaren are optimistic their performance this weekend has shown the upgrade to work.

Team leader Andreas Seidl said: “I am happy that we can take another step in terms of understanding this new nose box concept that we are usingâ ????

Sainz said he felt a lot more on top of the car this weekend than he had last time in Germany

â ???? The car has been competitive all weekend, â € “ he said – Especially from my side I’m a lot more satisfied with the feel of the car this weekend and it looks like we as a team have done a really good job of figuring out what happened last weekend

â ???? The car I was driving here definitely gave me a much better feeling and I had an easier weekendâ ????

Sainz’s comments were supported by Norris, who says progress has just come from a better understanding of what is needed to get the most out of upgrades

– I think we have a better understanding of Germany, â ???? he said – There was nothing wrong with what we had in Germany, we just didn’t have enough time to fully understand it as we only had one workout

â ???? We arrived this weekend with a better understanding, with a better knowledge of how to maximize the package. And I think that’s what we’ve done so far this weekendâ € ”

The McLaren update has so far revolved around a new nose box concept, which is similar to the design used by Mercedes

With this item working now, McLaren evaluated other modifications to their car – ???? tests of new components having been carried out during the Friday practice in Portugal

Seidl added: “We started the race weekend with the initial package of this new nose box concept that Lando raced at the Nurburgring

– Then we tested some additional parts to see how they performed with this new aerodynamic concept, which was positive

– But these parts are meant to be introduced in future races, and in the end we continued with the same setup on both cars, which is pretty much the one Lando used at the Nurburgringâ € ”