A new rear wing is at the heart of the Zandvoort package
McLaren Formula 1 chief designer Rob Marshall says that the team’s Zandvoort upgrade package should provide a “decent chunk” of lap time.
The package is the first major change to the MCL38 since the Miami GP in May, the team having gradually honed a relatively stable package since then.
A new high downforce rear wing is the main change for this weekend, along with a revised floor edge, brake ducts and suspension.
In Friday’s FP2 session Oscar Piastri was second fastest, while Lando Norris was fourth.
Marshall suggested that the strategy of bringing one major package came about by chance.
“I don’t think we consciously choose to target one event,” he said. “It’s the way the calendar works out.
“Sprint events make introducing new bits awkward, or harder to assess whether they are any good or not.
“And it just sort of turns out that, we managed to deliver a lot of stuff for Miami, which was our last real upgrade.
“You look at all the bits we’re bringing, and they all seem to have similar lead times. And you go, ‘Actually, we’ll just hit that one event and get them all there in one go.’”
Marshall admitted that it will be hard to match the success of the last big upgrade.
“It overdelivered, the Miami one,” he said. “So it was a bit of a surprise to us how successful it was. Hopefully it’s a decent chunk again, but less clear.
“There are some things we’re not so certain about, some things are slightly more risky than others. But unfortunately, with the weather as it is, it’s going to be difficult to assess this weekend is what I suspect.”
Asked about the benefits of the new wing he said: “If it delivers what we think, it’ll just be become our new high downforce rear wing, and it’ll obsolete the old one.
“Just general efficiency gains really, aerodynamic efficiency, and a few things to try and just help the way the car feels to the driver as well. A bit more downforce tends to fix everything!
“It’s a bit of a bit of a DRS improvement, and just a general efficiency improvement.”
Marshall admitted that having a stable package for a few months had its benefits.
“Sometimes when a part is marginal, you put it on, and I guess you don’t really know whether it’s better or worse,” he said. “You just kind of go, ‘Well it probably is better.’ And you leave it on. You can kind of get yourself a bit of a knot. The car is always different every weekend.
“Whereas in effect we’ve been racing in a more old-school way, where actually, for the last six or seven races it has been the same car – it’s even more than that – with very minor changes.
“The changes we kind of made were just the circuit specific changes you normally make, roll bars and wing choice.”
Adam Cooper F1 