F1 team boss warns 13-podium driver Australian GP upgrades will deliver ‘milliseconds’

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Andrea Stella has warned Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to limit their hopes ahead of McLaren bringing the team’s first set of ‘minor’ upgrades in 2024 to the Australian GP.

F1 heads down under for Piastri’s home race from March 22-24. The Melbourne native took his first points as a Grand Prix racer at the Australian GP in 2023 with P8. Norris finished the third race of last year in P6 for his first points, too, amid McLaren’s poor start to the season.

McLaren failed to hit the ground running last year but sprung to the leading pack following a major upgrade set. Norris made full use of the Woking squad’s development work to take P4 at the Austrian GP. He then sealed P2 at the British GP as Piastri took P4 with their upgrades.

Stella confirms McLaren’s Australian GP upgrade plans

Norris has only managed P6 at the Bahrain GP and P8 the Saudi Arabian GP through the first two rounds of 2024. But Piastri built on his P8 in Sakhir with fourth place in Jeddah – albeit a distant 13.368 seconds from the podium. Norris fell back in Saudi Arabia due to his strategy.

Norris briefly led the race in Jeddah after staying out under the safety car as McLaren could not double-stack with Piastri when most of the field pitted on Lap 7. But stopping on Lap 37 for new tyres ensured the 24-year-old’s fight was just for the lower points-scoring positions.

McLaren may creep closer to the podium positions come the Australian GP as team principal Stella has confirmed that the Woking outfit will take ‘minor’ upgrades to Melbourne. But he also warns Norris and Piastri to limit their hopes as they will likely only deliver ‘milliseconds’.

“We have some minor things that will come for Australia and, hopefully, for Japan,” he said, via quotes by Motorsport.com. “But they will be [delivering] a few milliseconds. And then, hopefully, within the first third of the season, we will have a major upgrade.”

Lando Norris made seven of his 13 F1 podiums in 2023

Norris has made 13 podiums in his Grand Prix career for McLaren since debuting at the 2019 Australian GP. While Piastri stood on two rostrums during his rookie season last year. Norris secured seven of his podiums last year, including five in the final eight rounds of the season.

But the 24-year-old Briton and 22-year-old Australian might have to wait until the Miami GP or the Emilia Romagna GP to return to the rostrum. McLaren’s 2024 car struggled in the low-speed corners in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The MCL38’s straight-line speed is also lacking.