McLaren continue to bring upgrades to Hungary: ‘Available to both drivers’

"For Hungary, we have some further updates that will let more from the point of view of trying to improve the race pace. These will be available to both drivers," Andrea Stella shared McLaren’s plans with GPblog among others.

"And by Hungary, we don't expect that the specification of the car will not be aligned between Oscar and Lando. Like any other team, we will carry on delivering some upgrades to the following races. This is also thanks to the fact that once we started redesigning the car, now we kind of unlocked performance and through iterations,  we keep seeing the aerodynamic development being quite effective," Stella continued.

The Italian team principal was also happy with how things went this weekend, and hopes to capitalise on their recent success. "Obviously, as soon as you see that a project is mature enough to be delivered, you press the ‘Go’ button and you go. So, there will be some more stuff coming even after Hungary."

He also hopes the car can deal with the new set of challenges at the Hungaroring. "In a way, we look forward to Hungary to check more comprehensively where we really are. As you say, there's not as much high speed. If anything, it's a low, medium speed dominated track. And also you can have hot conditions, which is again another testing territory for us."

McLaren’s approach to the development

Stella also expanded on the vision the team based in Woking has for the future. "Our approach was always going to be we need to push as hard as possible in terms of development, but with a logic, with clear direction, and then we will see what we handle."

He added: "Obviously, our expectation is for McLaren to be able to compete for podiums in the future, next season, and for victories in the following season. If you want, this is kind of the long-term vision. But like I say, you don't deliver based on visions, you deliver based on the facts that you actually bring to the car. And that's our focus."

Piastri’s role in the project

Stella was not short of praise for Oscar Piastri following the race either. "First of all, Oscar, performance is just outstanding. If you think he is a rookie. And right away, even in practice, he was immediately quick. He was immediately in some corners."

McLaren’s team principal continued: "A good reference for Lando himself. If you remember, with some of you, we were talking about the last corner in Barcelona. How quick he was straight away. And here, in some high-speed stuff, Oscar was again very quick."

Stella also underlined how Piastri can also make Norris perform better as well. "So this allows also some synergies between the drivers, because both can see where you can improve from each other. And this elevates the performance of both drivers. So not only we are impressed, but there's a net benefit in having two competitive drivers, because both can benefit."