McLaren proposes B-Spec Upgrade Prior to F1 Summer Break

The 2023 season didn’t start well for McLaren, with an ill-judged floor development last winter that saw them facing issues with aerodynamic efficiency. And with the team yet to score point, reliability issues and on-track incidents have made serious dents in performance too.

But although McLaren was aware of the team’s poor position even before the season began in Bahrain, they have in fact managed to change course, with impressive upgrades planned for the fourth race in Baku- in particular a new floor design that team boss Andrea Stella hopes will move them into a much better position.

The Baku update is reportedly the first of three crucial upgrade packages, with the second planned for just before the summer break- set to be a major amendment, amounting to something of a b-spec.

Stella recently confirmed that the Baku package is the first step towards the ultimate goal of becoming a top four car towards the end of the season, with more apparent upgrades in the pipeline- before a further round of upgrades in the second part of the season, once shutdown has occurred.

Outlining the plans, Stella detailed the three main steps and assured critics that each phase of the plan will gain the team a few tenths of a second in their efforts to get to where they want to be before the season ends.

The announcement of the plans comes after McLaren’s aggressive re-shuffling of the technical leadership team. This reorganisation saw technical director James Key making way for three alternative technical directors, each with their own specific tasks within their role. Further changes were revealed with the signing of David Sanchez from Ferrari as head of car concept and performance, who is set to join the team at the start of 2024.

The shake up will also see the team’s leading aero expert, Peter Prodromou, moving in to the role of technical director of aerodynamics, with Neil Houlder also making a move, following promotion to technical director of engineering and design. The team have also headhunted Aston Martin’s Mariano Algerian, who also joined the McLaren team as part of the restructuring plans.

Although this restructuring took place after the Baku spec was signed off, Stella is confident the new leadership will escalate the development rate, bringing huge benefits to the team.