McLaren CEO Zak Brown has praised his team, stating they did an excellent job with the upgrade package brought to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Woking-based team plan to bring more upgrades later in the season in order to combat the drag the MCL60 is producing, whilst retaining a similar amount of downforce.
McLaren endured a difficult opening to the season, failing to score points in either of the opening races, but have since gone on to land points in Australia and Azerbaijan.
“We did bring some new bits to the car,” Brown told the press. “We knew at the start of the year that it was going to be a bit of a slow start.
“So it was good to see the team did an excellent job with the upgrades with more to come.
“But that’s what the other nine teams are doing, and I think we need to get it dialled in with Baku being a sprint race so it takes a couple of sessions to understand exactly what’s going on and to tweak it. So I think we’ll still be learning over the course of this weekend.”
McLaren‘s drivers went in opposite directions in the two free practice sessions, as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris trialled different setups.
McLaren believe they are at the level they wanted to be at the beginning of the season and Brown thinks Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin are catchable.
“You used to have a front, mid and backfield, there’s no longer a backfield and I wouldn’t really say it’s a big four,” said Brown.
“It’s Red Bull, and kind of everybody else. You’re seeing all of us mixing it up with them [Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin] in qualifying. So while they definitely have, what appears to be, quicker cars I think they’re still within reach for all of us.”
