McLaren boss Andrea Stella reckons Red Bull’s choice to allocate resources to 2024 earlier last term has created the perception its Formula 1 rivals have “lost ground”.
Having completed a remarkable turnaround from backmarkers to podium scorers last campaign, McLaren had been tipped to emerge as Red Bull’s closest contender.
However, Ferrari has since taken up the mantle in the nascent stages with five podiums and a 1-2 finish in Australia to sit a comfortable second in the championship.
But McLaren is right in that battle and capitalised on a suboptimal weekend from the Maranello-based squad in Shanghai to clinch second place through Lando Norris.
Stella is convinced that McLaren remains on an ascendent path amid Red Bull suspending innovative car designs for the RB20 making it appear that it has fallen back.
Asked whether McLaren can become the established second team, he said: “I think if we take the 12 months period we have developed more than anybody else obviously.
“I think Red Bull did not develop very much last year. Clearly, they were working quite a lot in the ground because they innovated the car dramatically.
“And, to innovate the car like they did, it takes months of redesign. So, I think they were doing all this work and then when they came with the new car it was a big step.
“So even if apparently we kind of have lost some ground. I think we lost some ground because we gained so much ground before, while they were not developing.
“So that’s why, I think we need to look at things over the long period. Over the long period we are in a strong trajectory. For me this is also what we say internally.
“If we keep this trajectory of development for the next 12 months then why not? We may reach Red Bull.”
Stella had addressed in Japan that the Woking-based camp is reliant on replicating last season’s development to be able to compete with Ferrari on a consistent basis.
The ex-Ferrari race engineer has reiterated that the British outfit will introduce upgrades to the MCL38 at the next round in Miami as it bids to bridge the minor deficit.
“We’re going to have some upgrades in Miami,” Stella continued. Let’s see how they perform.”
“And then it’s like for everyone. There’s a lot of people at the factory that are all focused on generating developments. And it’s always a battle of development.
“We have seen already cars like Stake [Sauber] had upgrades. Haas have been upgraded and now they are consistently Q3 cars.
“That’s the real job in Formula 1. Just constantly improve cars. And that’s what we have to do.”
