McLaren’s handling troubles have forced the team to accept that any immediate performance gains will require fundamental design changes, not just tweaks, said team principal Andrea Stella.
Stella Declares 2027 is the Milestone
Stella told the press that the current car architecture limits the way the MCL75 can be driven. “I do not expect the forthcoming updates to resolve the handling deficit,” he said. “Only a more radical overhaul, expected with the MCL41 slated for 2027, can deliver the necessary feel.”
Drivers Adapt Under Pressure
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have had to abandon natural driving habits to control the 2023 V6 turbo‑hybrid machinery. Norris, after the Singapore Grand Prix, described the car as a “knife edge” that forces drivers to “force the front and the rear” in every corner, a level of intensity that “doesn’t let the car work on its own.”
Piastri, meanwhile, found the high‑intensity demands harder than Norris’s smoother style. He said the “effort to deliver lap time” is a “superior intensity” compared to last season, which meant he struggled to matching Norris’s competitiveness. “We had to work on how to drive the car aggressively, learning to abandon the instinct of clean fast driving,” Piastri noted.
Technical Shortcomings Rooted in Design
Both drivers cite the McLaren chassis and power unit as forces behind the balancing issue. Stella highlighted the need for a more fundamental shift, including aerodynamic and load‑distribution changes, before handling can improve. “Simply adding downforce in the coming races is not enough,” Stella emphasized.
Implications for the Rest of the Season
While the current situation hampers qualifying performance, the team concentrates on extracting maximum performance from the car’s primary strengths. The handling characteristics are recognized as one of the main reasons the team lags behind front‑running rivals, and Piastri’s adaptation curve outpaces Norris’s in the short term due to the drivers’ differing styles.
Stella reiterated that solving the handling problem is part of a longer‑term strategy that will extend into the next‑year car. “We are addressing the core issues as early as we can, but the earliest viable solution will arrive with the 2027 programme,” he said.
Gleaning Lessons from the Alliance
Inside the paddock, the conversation around handling has shed light on how driver – car synergy can dictate a team’s fortunes. Whether the coaching has succeeded or not is a matter for future race data, but the current car demands a higher level of concentration and input from its occupants. Both Norris and Piastri admit that working within this “intensity” may have contributed to the team’s marginal gains this season.
Given the trajectory of the technical revisions outlined by Stella, the next step for McLaren will be the release of the MCL41. Until those fundamental changes arrive, the handling deficit will likely remain the bottleneck preventing the team from achieving its full championship potential.
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