How far can McLaren climb with car rivals now say is the second-fastest in F1?

In the last two races, McLaren have scored twice as many points as they did over the previous nine grands prix put together.

The team’s recent upgrade has transformed the performance of the team which was last in the championship after the first two races. Rivals now regard them as the second fastest team in Formula 1.

Having quickly overhauled Alpine, McLaren lie a distant fifth in the constructors’ standings. There is a gap of 80 points to make up on Ferrari in fourth place, and McLaren have only scored 87 so far.

But after Lando Norris finished runner-up to Max Verstappen at both the British and Hungarian grands prix, the dominant Red Bull is now the only team with more second place finishes this year.

McLaren have been among the front-runners for two weekends now. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon said it was already “to be expected” that Norris and Oscar Piastri would qualify third and fourth in Hungary.

The suddenness of McLaren’s leap to the front has been a particular blow for Alpine. “A couple of races ago we were fighting with McLaren and even the Alfas,” rued Ocon’s team mate Pierre Gasly, “and this weekend we haven’t been able to do it.”

Mercedes, currently second in the constructors’ championship, have been out-scored by McLaren over the last two races. “You can see that McLaren has leapfrogged everybody else with an update they didn’t expect to come in that powerful,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff at Silverstone.

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“Whatever it was, they gained a second from it and leapfrogged Aston Martin, Ferrari, who have been as we have seen as really strong contenders at the beginning of the season, and now they are nowhere.”

Aston Martin started the season with the second-fastest car, but have since dropped down the order as McLaren – who were fifth in the 2022 standings and sat sixth only two rounds ago – and Mercedes have become podium contenders.

McLaren’s breakthrough in pace has swollen the ranks of contenders for ‘best of the rest’ behind Red Bull, reckons Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCullough. “They obviously had a very difficult start to the year but they’ve come back strongly and they’ve been competitive. Really the last three events we’ve seen that.

“So they’re right in the mix and they’re doing a good job. It’s going to make it a really good fun battle. I think we’re going to have several teams fighting for that second place, really.”

Sergio Perez said the McLarens were “really strong” as he qualified his Red Bull behind both of them for the sixth time in a row in Hungary. Even his team mate Max Verstappen had to contend with the pace of the MCL60s at Silverstone, where Norris led for four laps.

Other drivers whose teams have made more modest progress are looking on jealously at what McLaren have been able to achieve. Carlos Sainz Jnr, who left the Woking squad to join Ferrari two years ago, said “McLaren right now looks like the second team on the road.”

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“We looked like that in Austria, and suddenly Silverstone and Hungary has put us back a bit where we were at the beginning of the year,” he added. “So a very good job done by them.”

Mercedes’ George Russell agrees with Sainz. “It is absolutely clear they are true contenders for the second-fastest team. It’s very odd how Aston Martin were clearly the second best at the start of the year, and they don’t seem to be so competitive right now. Ferrari haven’t made much progress, and McLaren have made a huge jump.

“If it wasn’t for McLaren we’d be very, very satisfied with the progress we’re making, moving ahead of the midfield, pulling that gap on our rivals, closing in on Red Bull. But McLaren have just totally thrown it in the mix. But gives you optimism that there is potential to make big steps.”

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McLaren’s competitiveness at the Hungaroring, a track they did not expect would suit their car, made a bigger statement than their podium at Silverstone. The Hungaroring posed a very different challenge, and one they mastered better than all but Red Bull.

Mercedes, who sit 136 points ahead of McLaren and are second in the standings, are the only team other than Red Bull to have got both of their cars in the top five in more races than McLaren. But prior to last weekend, McLaren’s longest points-scoring run was two races in a row. Only Williams had less consistent top ten form.

McLaren may have shot past Alpine in the points table, but the rate they need to outscore the teams ahead to fight them in the championship would require their podium run to continue. You have to look back to 2012 for the last time that happened.

But unless Ferrari and Aston Martin can strike back at the resurgent McLaren in the second half of the season, third in the points is at least a possibility. That would be a remarkable turnaround for the team which started the season so poorly.

2023 Hungarian Grand Prix

• Was F1’s Alternative Tyre Allocation test successful? Drivers and teams have their say
• How far can McLaren climb with car rivals now say is the second-fastest in F1?
• Why Ricciardo says McLaren’s car “speaks Lando’s language” – but Norris disagrees
• Mercedes reveal cooling error behind loss of pace in Hungarian GP
• Perez answered critics in Hungary but needs to qualify better – Horner

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