McLaren start 2024 confident they have continued the strong progress they made last year – but wary of the potential performance of Red Bull.
Lando Norris scored more points than any other driver bar Max Verstappen last season after McLaren upgraded their car for July’s Austrian Grand Prix.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said his team have “not seen diminishing returns” in development of their new car.
But he is concerned the same will be the case for dominant champions Red Bull.
“Red Bull should be extremely competitive and we will see where we are and what kind of challenge we will be able to set on track,” Stella said.
Last year, Red Bull and Verstappen produced the most dominant season in Formula 1 history.
The Dutchman won 19 of the 22 races and his team-mate Sergio Perez two of the remaining three.
McLaren started 2023 with one of the slowest cars in the field but emerged as one of the leading contenders behind Red Bull in the second half of the season thanks to a remarkably effective development programme.
And McLaren feel that while their new car is looking promising, Red Bull will make at least as much progress with their new design.
Stella, talking at an event at which McLaren launched their 2024 livery, said the team had been able to continue the major steps forward they made for Austria and a subsequent major upgrade in Singapore in September.
“The gradient we established last year that led to the Austria and Singapore development, it seems like we can maintain it,” Stella said.
“In the background, we are already starting to work on further developments which we hope to bring relatively soon in the season and they also seem to be quite interesting.
“In terms of the regulations themselves and the development at McLaren, we seem like a linear gradient of development can be maintained.”
But he pointed out that Red Bull stopped developing last year’s car relatively early in the season, which could be an ominous sign for their 2024 form.
“Competitiveness on track depends on what the opposition has done,” Stella said. “When we think specifically about Red Bull, there is one element that puts everyone in doubt as to what is going to happen in 2024, and it’s the fact that they have not developed their car very much.
“So the question is have they cashed in, accumulated developments, and they will capitalise on to next year’s car? This is my theory.
“I can’t think that Red Bull were not in condition to develop their car. They might have decided not to deliver upgrades, but certainly this may mean their [development] gradient kept going.”