McLaren may have used an ‘old school trick’ to develop race-winning F1 car this season

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McLaren has been one of the benchmark teams of the 2024 season having taken over the in the Constructors’ Championship.

The MCL38 started off the season as second-best to the Red Bull RB20, but key developments have enabled the team to win more than one race in a season for the first time since 2012.

It has also enabled Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to consistently finish on the podium and inside the top five places. With Sergio Perez enduring a tough season at Red Bull, it meant Max Verstappen was their main points-scorer and it has led to them slipping back in the Constructors’ Championship.

McLaren has been on a big recruitment drive which has led to some key personnel members from rival teams join them, including Red Bull aerodynamicist Rob Marshall. The MCL38 has drawn attention from some rivals, with Red Bull recently leading a protest of their rear wing design following their win at Azerbaijan.

While McLaren had to revert to an older specification wing for the following race in Singapore, it did not impact the team’s form significantly. This is because they are employing an ‘old school trick’ when it comes to car development according to F1 technical journalist Matt Somerfield when speaking on the Missed Apex podcast.

McLaren’s ‘old school track’ that put them ahead of Red Bull in the development race

F1 teams spend millions of pounds on car developments throughout a season in a bid to catch up to rivals, although they are limited in the cost cap to only spending £100 million on performance.

This means developments must be much more targeted and the correlation between the wind tunnel and the track is more important than ever, as evidenced by Mercedes’ dip in form throughout the season.

McLaren has been able to use a new wind tunnel facility that came online last year, and they have put it to good use with their front wing designs according to Somerfield.

“They [McLaren] might have started out with the high, medium and low downforce wings that they will never use again because they’re from the first family and now they have a better configuration with the second family,” said Somerfield.

“Their development on that side of things far outweighs any team on the grid. This makes you question their development and understand how to get the best out of these regulations because in reality, that’s more of an old-school trick we used to see, whereas we haven’t seen that trick through this regulation set. Only Red Bull had done it in the early phases through beam wings rather than rear wings.”

The Las Vegas scenario that could make title ‘complicated’ for Lando Norris

Verstappen’s stunning victory at the Sao Paulo GP means he is now 62 points ahead of Norris in the battle for the Drivers’ Championship.

With a maximum of 86 points left across three race weekends, only a maximum of 26 points can be scored plus a further eight in Qatar due to the Sprint race.

Norris must outscore Verstappen in Las Vegas to keep his title hopes alive, otherwise the Red Bull driver will likely walk away as a four-time World Champion.

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari will be competitive in Las Vegas based on their form at Austin and Mexico, which would make things difficult for Norris as McLaren focuses on defending their Constructors’ title lead.