McLaren surprised: 'Red Bull brought more updates to track than us'

According to Stella, this is not just because McLaren has more time to spend in the wind tunnel because they are one place lower in the World Championship than the Austrian team. "Effectively, Red Bull have taken, trackside, more developments so far in terms of physical parts delivered when you look at the submission, than what we have done. But definitely, I can talk for McLaren, we seem to be now in condition to cash in some of this development that we have accrued in the ground, and I would expect that for the second part of the season, we will have, at multiple times, some new parts," the team principal said.

The fact that the MCL38 appears to be the fastest car at the moment is therefore somewhat surprising. On every type of track, the performance of McLaren's 2024 car is excellent. "In a way, I’m surprised that we've been so competitive considering that, from Miami onwards, we haven't actually brought trackside, many new parts. So it means that obviously the Miami upgrade was big, but there's some upgrades that will come in the second part of the season, yes."

McLaren very consistent

In terms of the Constructors' Championship, it is in McLaren's favour that hands is that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri deliver consistently. At least they consistently score high points, something that cannot be said of Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

"I think we are actually quite satisfied with the level of consistency and robustness we have as a team. The only team that every driver has scored points at every single event. Mega reliability so far. I've lost the counting of how many points in a row, maybe ten podiums in a row, so many opportunities to do better, but the big picture is of a very strong and consistent team, and this should be remarked," Stella concludes.