McLaren has managed to overcome a protracted barren period to emerge as a consistent threat at the sharp end in Formula 1 again, but another wasted chance to win a race at the British Grand Prix has shown that remnants of those wilderness times remain prevalent in its desire to become a proper title contender.
The Woking-based squad instigated one of the most remarkable turnarounds last term when, against all outside expectations, it went from experiencing Q1 eliminations in the nascent stages to attaining regular podiums with a transcended MCL60 car.
However, Red Bull’s might, an impenetrable Max Verstappen, and McLaren’s inherent weakness in slow-speed corners meant that the team’s wait to return to the F1 winners’ circle carried across into the winter months.
But although McLaren began the current campaign unable to maintain that momentum as Red Bull’s nearest threat, a potent upgrade package in Miami delivered the breakthrough success that the side and Lando Norris had been desperate to obtain.
That has not prompted the floodgates to open, though, despite McLaren having boasted the car to claim more victories.
Norris came close to pipping Verstappen with a late charge at Imola and rued a sluggish start from pole position costing him a probable win in Spain against the reigning triple World Champion in the “fastest car”.
The Briton was then unfortunate that Verstappen’s uncompromising approach in wheel-to-wheel racing ended his chances with seven laps remaining in Austria, though he wasted several openings to make a clean pass in both the Sprint and main Grand Prix.
But amid those driver-induced near misses, there has been a recurring theme which has seen McLaren become exposed as not being quite up to scratch on operational matters.
The erroneous decision to not pit Norris when the Safety Car intervened in Canada cost him a lead that he was unable to retrieve, while McLaren came up short again last weekend at Silverstone when several wrong calls saw it hand Mercedes the win.
Norris appeared on course to be cruising to an emotional home run on home soil when he headed team-mate Oscar Piastri at the mid-point as the McLaren MCL38 came alive on a damp track and saw its drivers slice past the front-row starting Mercedes drivers.
However, the race had one last twist in store upon the crossover back to slicks late in proceedings as Mercedes triggered an undercut on Lap 38 to get Lewis Hamilton back into a lead which delivered him a record-breaking ninth win at Silverstone.
As one British driver was overcome with emotion as he cherished his elongated wait to land a benchmark-extending 104th win in F1, the other involved in the podium festivities was made to contemplate what could have been as his second eluded him.
Norris cut a despondent figure in parc ferme and the subsequent post-race press conference as he lamented McLaren “throwing away” another gilt-edged chance.
Like in Canada, split-second indecision was McLaren’s undoing; but this one stung more. Back in Montreal there wasn’t the sense McLaren possessed the best car and there was still considerable time left to go.
Last weekend, the papaya squad had all the tools at its disposal to get the win over the line in the closing laps, but the pressure told as McLaren committed to the wrong calls.
Hamilton might not have prevailed since December 2021, but the seven-time champion’s experience operating when the stakes are at their highest shone through as his radio communications with long-time race engineer, Peter Bonington, were calm, cool and precise when discussing matters.
On the other hand, Norris and McLaren were at sixes and sevens as the late call to pit over to slicks created a panic that led the team to wreck its chance at salvaging the situation.
Along with boxing a lap too late, McLaren also elected to fit Norris’ car with used Softs rather than the new Mediums available. This would transpire to be a regretful choice as excessive degradation opened the door for Verstappen to steam through on the Hards.
Ever the critic when reviewing his races, Norris rued requesting the Softs when asked over the radio which driver he wanted to cover on the road. With a track that threatened to still be damp in some patches and concerns about the accessible grip, Norris’ response was understandable.
As McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted post-race, the onus should have fallen on the pit wall and the vast information it has on the screen to overrule the driver’s own intuition.
“Please don’t think that the decision to go on Soft is because Lando said we should go Soft,” Stella said.
“We have the possibility to make the call, we have more information, we have more people so the responsibility of going on Soft rather than on Medium which would have been a better call stands with the team. It’s 100 per cent my responsibility and the people.
“The driver kind of gives his point of view that is a point of view and in that case it should have been the people to make a call saying we go Medium because the Soft may not make it to the end.”
Stella has explained that McLaren’s initial plan was to use the Mediums, but seeing Mercedes move to Softs had an influence.
“Definitely the fact that Lewis went on Soft is one of the disturbing factors towards the fact that we actually were going on Medium,” he explained.
“I think there the bet was will the Soft make it to the end and how much gap will the Soft gain at the start in transition compared to going there on Medium because the Medium will be faster at the end but how much time do you lose in the first two, three laps on a Medium and is there any risk that you put a wheel on a wet patch and you lose the car.
“So I think in this respect we I think we were too influenced by the fact that Lewis went on Soft, I think we should have been more like Medium is the right tyre.”
That was the most concerning aspect to digest from McLaren’s post-race review. That admission reveals that McLaren once again lacked conviction in its own choices and going with what appeared a risk-averse decision to replicate another team ended up being one that backfired and made it worse.
In contrast, Red Bull’s radio chatter with Verstappen comprised no talk surrounding what compound to switch over to, with the team taking the decision to go with Hards.
The process in how Mercedes and Red Bull approached the situation versus McLaren was reflected in the end order. The race at the Northamptonshire circuit was as much about raw pace as it was execution; and in that regard, McLaren was found wanting.
To compound matters more, Piastri’s pace at the end on the Mediums was blistering and brought him to 12 seconds behind Hamilton.
The Australian trailed back in a distant fourth place, but he was also at one stage considered a realistic contender to win the race until McLaren hampered his intentions.
Piastri was circulating right behind his team-mate’s car when the change to Intermediates beckoned. However, McLaren opted to leave him out rather than double stack and the increasing shower meant that Norris had almost caught up to Piastri on his out-lap.
McLaren conceded that “greed” was behind the ill-advised attempt to minimise Piastri’s inevitable time loss which took him out of the running and gave Hamilton the impetus to reign in Norris’ advantage out in the lead.
Norris insisted heading into the weekend that he wanted to improve upon the second place 12 months ago that revived McLaren’s status as a front-running competitor. Instead, he ended up slipping back one place to third.
Another podium result, though, was his seventh this season, consolidating his hold on second place and he now has 102 more points at the mid-point than last term. But Norris is now at a stage in his career where he wants more than second or third and he knows he has a car to reach greater heights.
However, McLaren is not exploiting the potential the well-rounded MCL38 retains with strategic mishaps that are going punished at the front when the margins are razor thin and the pressure is more intense.
Mercedes’ back-to-back victories with both drivers have seen there be six separate winners across the last nine rounds alone.
Verstappen’s brilliance is keeping Red Bull several steps ahead in both standings, but the Dutchman has urged the Austrian outfit to improve as he is aware that McLaren’s threat going into each weekend is genuine.
Although Sergio Perez’s struggles in the sister RB20 have presented McLaren with a chance to pile on the pressure in the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren continues to let Red Bull escape with minor cuts to the substantial points lead it holds.
Meanwhile, Norris proclaimed in Barcelona that his individual hopes against Verstappen would rest on not allowing the lead to grow. But another contrast in how the respective camps executed the Silverstone race has seen Verstappen edge three points closer.
McLaren mounting a title fight this season was going to be a long shot, but the team must iron out these repetitive shortcomings to ensure that it doesn’t prove to be more costly when the points are reset next season.
McLaren has assembled the most versatile car but has less wins than both Ferrari and Mercedes who have undergone periods this term where they have been uncompetitive.
Stella, though, has contended that the team’s various close shaves should be viewed as “good news” as it marks a stark contrast to where it was prior to his appointment in late 2022.
“Well the near misses are first of all a point of view of good news right, we didn’t have this kind of near misses until 12 months ago,” he argued.
“First of all we need to look at the positives, we need to look at the fact that the team is in condition to be frustrated today because we are P3 in the podium, the other driver P4 and once again the team that scored more points right, so if we don’t start from the positives from the building side we are going to be the ones that build and destroy.
“Build and destroy will stay always at the same level so this is responsibility for everyone, while Lando and Oscar don’t have responsibility in some of the calls that today we call missed opportunities, we all, drivers included, have the responsibility to keep building and when we have days in which we have a missed opportunity, it’s the best opportunity to keep building because we need to, you know, we are racing against the teams that have won championships and championships and they are pretty stable in terms of the people that are there.
“They are even familiar with this racing at the top in changeable conditions and so on, from this point of view we are I think more of an under-construction side and we take these near misses, like the frustration will go very rapidly but the opportunity will come soon so we need to be ready.”
Stella is adamant McLaren doesn’t need an overhaul, but it must show progress. This sort of positive rhetoric will soon wear thin unless there is conclusive evidence that Silverstone was a bona fide turning point.
The Italian has quashed the notion in some quarters that McLaren now has the consistently quickest car, but the margins being so minuscule should accelerate the demand to ensure the errors are eradicated.
Despite both Stella and the two drivers having insisted McLaren has not underestimated the challenge it has in dethroning Red Bull, the group is now discovering the perfection that’s required.
Mercedes has also encountered its own troublesome spell in recent seasons, but it is still the same core that won eight straight Constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021.
Therefore, McLaren is up against the two operations that have had a complete stranglehold on the entire series since 2010.
Nevertheless, with two world-class drivers with significant room to improve and a technical team that has been provided the platform to excel since Stella ascended to the helm, McLaren is riding its best wave since its last title success back in 2008.
But McLaren hasn’t competed at the pinnacle like it is now since 2012 and that sharp attention to detail on the more incremental aspects has been exhibited in recent weeks. Regardless, with a wholesale technical regulation reset on the horizon in 2026, McLaren would be foolish to let repeat blunders prove its undoing when it has worked so hard to have a competitive car.
McLaren is back to being renowned as a big hitter in the F1 world, but a potential title charge will continue to be elusive until the team demonstrates that it has the complete package across all departments to triumph during what could be developing into one of the sport’s most competitive ever intervals.
