McLaren identifies why Baku left it without points

Andrea Stella admits Baku exposed a weakness deeper than the incidents that eliminated Lando Norris and left Oscar Piastri outside the points. According to the McLaren team principal, the MCL40 had too much drag, not enough top speed and insufficient cornering performance to let the drivers attack normally. They spent much of the race defending rather than moving forward.

The upgrades brought to Baku are not being treated as a failure. Stella says they delivered the expected gain. The problem is that they were not enough to correct the car’s fundamental characteristics on this type of circuit. McLaren will review its drag level and gearbox ratios in particular to determine whether they were suited to Azerbaijan’s very long straights.

A third element emerges from the comparison with Mercedes: Stella says McLaren’s power unit was not optimised to the same level as the works team’s during the race, despite using the same engine. The difference therefore lies in how the complete package is exploited, not simply in available power. Baku does not invalidate the gains from the upgrades, but it shows exactly where McLaren still needs to improve to beat Mercedes more consistently.