British GT News: McLaren Targets High-Speed Cornering Improvements to Catch Red Bull
McLaren boss Andrea Stella has identified high-speed cornering as the key area where the team must improve in their ongoing Formula 1 battle with Red Bull.
The Woking-based squad has emerged as Red Bull’s closest challenger this season, with Lando Norris securing a maiden win in Miami. However, McLaren has been unable to build on that breakthrough, with narrow margins costing Norris potential victories in Canada and Spain.
Stella acknowledged that the relative pace between McLaren and Red Bull was “very, very similar” in the Spanish Grand Prix, with Norris finishing a close second to Max Verstappen. The team’s remarkable turnaround last season saw their best results come at high-speed circuits, where the MCL60 proved a close match for Red Bull’s RB20.
“There are some others that will fit. Like if we look at the second sector. We’ve been very competitive all weekend,” Stella explained. “But we have some work to do actually now in high speed. The fact that we’ve been able to alter the personality of the car, now it’s a car that works well in a speed range which 12 months ago was our weakness, but with this generation of cars you gain somewhere, you lose a little bit somewhere else.”
With Red Bull’s prowess in both high and very high-speed corners, McLaren is clearly focused on addressing this area to close the gap to the championship leaders. As the British GT season reaches its midpoint, the team will be hoping to translate these learnings into further improvements on the track.
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