Does McLaren’s Miami Grand Prix victory, aided by their latest upgrade package, signal the team will be a much more competitive force over the coming races?
On the face of it there are strong reasons to think not. Lando Norris qualified behind both Red Bulls and both Ferraris, and was elevated into first place by a well-timed Safety Car period. The only one of the two McLaren drivers to have all of the new parts for the MCL38, Norris was 0.4% off the absolute pace in Miami, no better than they managed earlier in the season at Suzuka, where the gap was 0.33%.But there are other signs that Norris’ breakthrough victory owed plenty to the upgrades McLaren introduced last weekend. Miami has tended not to be a strong track for this team, and at other venues which suit their car better they may be even more competitive.
Last year McLaren were 1.82% off the pace at Miami, one of their worst performances of the season. Yes, this was before the first of their game-changing upgrades that year, but four weeks later in Spain with much the same car they were just 0.7% off.
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When it came down to consistent running in the race, McLaren wrung more out of their tyres for longer than even Red Bull could manage. That was what made Norris a threat during the Safety Car period to begin with: McLaren wisely avoided reacting to Sergio Perez’s pit stop ahead of him, and left Norris out for lap after lap on the medium rubber to bring him into contention.
McLaren improved their lap times by more than any other team last weekend; indeed, only two other teams managed to lap quicker in Miami than they had 12 months earlier. The team which struggled the most was Aston Martin, who couldn’t get within a second of their best time at a track where Fernando Alonso finished on the podium a month ago.
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But Gasly was far from alone in being unable to consistently replicate his best lap times. No driver managed to put their three quickest sector times together over a single lap.
Even taking that into account, McLaren was no better than the third-quickest team on single-lap pace. But given their past weakness in Miami, and the performance they showed over a race stint, the team can approach the coming races with more confidence they can take the fight to Red Bull and Ferrari.
Sector times
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 28.783 (1) | 33.467 (2) | 24.875 (2) | 1’27.125 (+0.116) |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 28.85 (3) | 33.44 (1) | 24.852 (1) | 1’27.142 (+0.318) |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 28.793 (2) | 33.524 (3) | 24.949 (6) | 1’27.266 (+0.116) |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 28.874 (4) | 33.571 (5) | 24.936 (4) | 1’27.381 (+0.074) |
| 5 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 28.93 (6) | 33.53 (4) | 24.981 (9) | 1’27.441 (+0.234) |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | 28.928 (5) | 33.585 (6) | 24.95 (8) | 1’27.463 (+0.131) |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 29.02 (7) | 33.635 (8) | 25.022 (11) | 1’27.677 (+0.020) |
| 8 | 63 | George Russell | 29.125 (8) | 33.678 (9) | 25.02 (10) | 1’27.823 (+0.244) |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 29.281 (12) | 33.748 (14) | 24.902 (3) | 1’27.931 (+0.215) |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 29.334 (13) | 33.605 (7) | 25.022 (11) | 1’27.961 (+0.015) |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 29.271 (10) | 33.783 (18) | 24.949 (6) | 1’28.003 (+0.174) |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 29.27 (9) | 33.689 (10) | 25.072 (15) | 1’28.031 (+0.136) |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 29.28 (11) | 33.769 (15) | 25.065 (13) | 1’28.114 (+0.095) |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 29.498 (16) | 33.774 (16) | 25.067 (14) | 1’28.339 (+0.004) |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | 29.51 (17) | 33.725 (11) | 25.126 (18) | 1’28.361 (+0.258) |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 29.467 (14) | 33.778 (17) | 25.118 (17) | 1’28.363 (+0.064) |
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | 29.724 (20) | 33.736 (13) | 24.944 (5) | 1’28.404 (+0.083) |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 29.47 (15) | 33.849 (19) | 25.105 (16) | 1’28.424 (+0.039) |
| 19 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 29.525 (18) | 33.727 (12) | 25.248 (20) | 1’28.500 (+0.117) |
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | 29.624 (19) | 33.903 (20) | 25.196 (19) | 1’28.723 (+0.101) |
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Field performance
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2024 Miami Grand Prix
- McLaren had superior pace before Verstappen’s damage in Miami – Norris
- Sainz ‘struggles to understand’ why he got penalty when Perez didn’t
- Alonso’s unusual brake problem and more unheard Miami team radio
- McLaren’s Miami upgrade success points to even stronger form in coming races
- Norris expects more wins this year and believes “100%” in 2025 title bid
Asd
10th May 2024, 9:31
It hurts me to see Aston Martin turning into garbage and Alonso being stuck there for the short rest of his career.
People will quickly say “Oh, but the new facility, new wind tunnel coming” etc., but McLaren had all of those and was garbage for a decade.
S
10th May 2024, 9:33
It’s an unfortunate truth in F1 that the most talented and most exciting drivers are rarely the most successful ones.
rprp
10th May 2024, 12:54
You know he has two world championships to his name. Part of the reason it’s not more is his own doing.
When people are asked about greatest drivers never to have won a title, the discussion usually ends up with Stirling Moss, Ronnie Peterson, Didier Pironi, Gilles Villeneuve. I can’t think of anybody remotely recent who I think would get close to that group.
Moi
10th May 2024, 18:13
Montoya perhaps. I feel he is the only one aside from Hakkinen who troubled Schumacher to some degree.
Jungle
11th May 2024, 9:05
Totally agree with that Moi. He left too soon…
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
10th May 2024, 15:35
its like that in hollywood too.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
10th May 2024, 19:54
Mclaren completed their wind tunnel late last year, beforehand they were using Toyota’s in Switzerland. I think part of the reason their upgrades are actually working is because of their in-house wind tunnel and new aero staff
bosyber (@bosyber)
10th May 2024, 10:17
I think the team probably have to relearn some on-track aptitude, and maybe work on their preparation too. If they know where the problems are (apart from the clear 2nd driver issue, that is), they need not be in the weeds as long as McLaren was.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
10th May 2024, 15:34
no. lolz. wake me up when Pirelli makes tires that will last more than 1 qualy lap.
SteveP
10th May 2024, 17:25
I think you may have mistyped – surely you mean “when Pirelli make tyres that last a complete qualy lap”
I think drivers were complaining about them barely lasting to turn 6 ??
CheeseBucket
10th May 2024, 23:32
Imagine this, Mclaren didn’t get the car set up well due to the limited running due to it being a sprint race.
Next race they get it right and go on to win the championship.
I can dream! ;-)
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
11th May 2024, 1:26
McLaren has made improvements but let’s not lose sight of the fact that VER was comfortably leading the race before he went off track damaging his car.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
11th May 2024, 14:42
Red Bull didn’t even have their power unit at full beans. Wonder if they will do that at the other US tracks this year (sigh).
Mayrton
11th May 2024, 14:28
Sounds a bit like a Perez at season start kind of story. Let’s first see whether they at least once can repeat their form before we start to speculate wildly. There is already more than enough unsubstantiated news spread by nowadays media. It seems that in the era Trump literally anything goes and all truths can be fabricated by anyone.
Mayrton
11th May 2024, 14:29
Sounds a bit like a Perez at season start kind of story. Let’s first see whether they at least once can repeat their form before we start to speculate wildly. There is already more than enough unsubstantiated news being spread.