After a challenging start to the Formula 1 season, McLaren believes it has overcome the adaptation difficulties to the Mercedes power unit under the new regulations and projects progress already at the Miami GP. The team faced problems in the first three races, including the electrical failure that prevented Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from starting at the Chinese GP.
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With the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds, the team gained a month to analyze data and seek improvements. According to team principal Andrea Stella, this period was decisive for technical advances: “I can also confirm that, in terms of work with the HPP and development of simulation tools, we took a significant step compared to the stage we were at in Australia and, as a team, we are now much better prepared.”
The changes come along with new rules, such as the reduction of energy recharge in qualifying from 8 MJ to 7 MJ per lap. “As we saw in simulations, to some extent we will be able to predict the behavior of the power unit as soon as we apply the new regulations,” Stella said.
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The executive highlighted that the initial disadvantage was expected but has already been overcome. “We worked very constructively with the HPP, but now, later in the season, I believe we have overcome this gap and should have all the necessary tools to extract the maximum from the power unit,” he concluded.
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