What Concerns Do McLaren Have Ahead Of The Hungary GP?

If the current state of the McLaren team could be explained by a certain albeit lone instance from the ongoing season, then the way Lando Norris pranced upon Max Verstappen at Silverstone should sufficiently capture it.

Inside the very opening lap, Norris, starting from second, a bit of a surprise to many, lunged ahead of pole sitter Max Verstappen and took initial control of the British Grand Prix before being eventually passed.

Finally, however, Norris would capture a valiant second, his only podium so far, a result gathered at the back of an electrifying performance.

Verstappen may have finally bagged yet another win, but it is likely he would remember, for times to come, the bold and dashing overtake by Lando Norris.

This brave instance that demonstrated the young driver’s lion-hearted appetite in the highest annals of Motorsport was in some ways symbolic of the leap that McLaren have desired taking in F1 since the past few years. Their moves might seem sudden, but backed by daring and control, are indicative of that one of the sport’s greatest racing entities isn’t here to crackle up jokes; they mean serious business.

They are currently fifth in the Constructor’s standings, which is anything but a hopeless performance; others, like Alpine and Alfa Romeo have been rather underwhelming.

Interestingly, ahead of round twelve of the ongoing 2023 world championship, the big boss at McLaren, i.e., Zak Brown has reflected on a few notable angles ahead of the Hungaroring run.

So what is that the team’s CEO had to say ahead of the soon-to-being Hungarian Grand Prix?

“I think everyone at McLaren did a great job. We’re coming from a pretty low base from where we were at the start of the year. So I think now is where we should have been and we recognized that early on. Everyone at McLaren has just done a fantastic job, [now] head down and we continue to push.”

That said, Brown also reflected on the recent results that the McLaren outfit drove home prior to arriving at Hungaroring. The following is what the determined and popular American would add:

“We know our car’s really good in high speed. So Austria we were strong, Silverstone we were strong. That’s why we’re a little bit more cautious here in Hungary but we think the upgrade will work well here as well. Some of the slower tracks will probably be a bit more challenging for us but it was also good to see Oscar [Piastri] when he got the upgrades to perform on the same level as Lando Norris.

That being told, Mr. Zak Brown also touched upon the vastly understated subject of Oscar Piastri, who all but claimed his maiden F1 podium at Silverstone, which was right at the back of a disappointing sixteenth at Austria. The McLaren CEO would explain:

“He doesn’t really lack much, even though the qualifying stats are nine to one, I think when you look at the actual lap times they’re very close. I mean in Silverstone there was less than a tenth. They’ve raced each other earlier in the year.”