McLaren: Discussions about rear wing

The McLaren haters’ accusation: The traditional British team is using illegal aerodynamic aids to steal the World Championship from Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The problem: The International Automobile Federation nipped the issue in the bud. Any potentially flexible wing movements are within the tolerances set out in the regulations. McLaren’s success – it is completely legal.

One thing is certain: The Papaya team’s comeback in the World Championship has amazed the Formula 1 community. The team from Woking won two of the three races after the summer break and is now 20 points ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. This means that the team is leading the Constructors’ Championship again for the first time since 2014.

Lando Norris still hopes for the title in the drivers’ world championship

Image: McLaren / X

“If you consider where we started when I joined the team last year, we were literally last and now we are at the top of the World Championship,” even Baku winner Piastri can hardly believe the positive transformation of his vehicle. “A huge compliment to the whole team. First of all, that the car has been improved so much, but also that they have helped me to improve. Nobody thought that this was possible twelve months ago. It is exciting to see what the future holds.”

He himself has played a decisive role in the success. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are becoming the best duo in Formula 1. The young Australian is increasingly developing into the new Kimi Räikkönen of the racing scene. “Pressure is Tires“, he coolly commented on his situation at the weekend.

Meanwhile, his teammate Lando Norris was trying to limit the damage in the Azerbaijan GP, ​​racing from 15th place on the grid to fourth and even overtaking his World Championship rival Max Verstappen. With seven races to go, he is 60 points behind in the World Championship. That is not easy to catch up, but it is not impossible either.

“Beating Max, setting the fastest lap and getting the extra point; that was important,” emphasises the Briton, admitting, “Saturday was hard to digest. That was my worst qualifying result ever in Formula 1, which was a bit embarrassing.” A yellow flag prevented the time hunt, but that’s what being a title hunter means: putting up with setbacks, wiping your mouth and finishing fourth.

McLaren has a 20-point lead over Red Bull after the race in Baku

Image: McLaren / X

Red Bull is now doing less and less well. The traditional British team McLaren, which once won world championships with stars such as Niki Lauda, ​​Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna or Mika Häkkinen won, has not yet reached the end of his possibilities.

“We are definitely still working on upgrades for this season and are currently finalising this,” warns team boss Andrea Stella to the competition from Milton Keynes. The fact that the Italian, who once drove alongside Michael Schumacher at Ferrari The fact that he is keeping a low profile says a lot about the strength of the team: “I don’t want to give away too much about what we are putting on the car and when. But we have a plan to make the car faster.”

The fact is: McLaren is already the new strong force in the automotive premier class. For Max Verstappen and Red Bull it will be a race against time, against the strongest driver duo, against the best car and against a team boss who sits on his driver’s shoulder while driving.

Background: During the Azerbaijan GP, ​​Norris’ race engineer instructed the Englishman to drive as if “Andrea” was sitting on his shoulder. “Andrea just loves to understand how we drive the car as a team boss,” explains the Briton. “He wants to know how we drive and what we’re having problems with. He’s a racing driver at heart. I know he looks at my data and tells me what I could have done better. He just wants perfection and he wants everything to work well.”

This is exactly the stuff future world champions are made of.