Do think this is the first time McLaren‘s had a horrible campaign? I’ll answer that for you with a trip down memory lane. MP4-30, the team’s 2015 challenger aired all the weak links and dirty laundry as it went down in history as the team’s worst creation and the year as the worst one for the team as well. However, how their 2023 campaign is panning out for the Woking outfit seems to lead to the same trajectory. If they don’t pull up their socks soon enough, Lando Norris probably won’t be as patient as Fernando Alonso to wait around for the team’s long-term improvement. And the Briton’s last hope is a B-spec miracle.

To understand what that technical terminology means, we have to keep in mind that the current challenger the Papaya team rallies is probably their last year’s car, just renamed as MCL60. The CEO, Zak Brown, admitted to being massively late on the developmental front. And the team expects major upgrades in Baku. The Azerbaijan GP will become the place where they will debut the real 2023 challenger. And despite not turning any heads yet, the team is hopeful.

As quoted by Formel1.de, the team’s TP Andrea Stella, on Baku development, said, “In terms of development, this is only the first step,” and assuring that more is yet to come, he stated, “We definitely expect another big upgrade that will affect more areas of the car and will be much more obvious. This is what you could call a kind of B-Spec car. A third major upgrade is to follow after the summer break.”

Clarifying the timeline of their three-step plan for the 2023 campaign, he stated, “So we have three main steps: Baku, later – I don’t want to commit to a date, but before the summer break – and then after the summer break,”

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However, can McLaren conjure miracles with the above-stated plan? Because if they are bringing upgrades, so will other teams, ideally neutralizing each other. However, McLaren has another developmental ace up their sleeve.

McLaren takes a massive developmental step toward their ultimate goal

While the Papaya Army’s patience is running thin, the team has showcased another promising aspect for the future. McLaren, which has been using Toyota’s wind tunnel, spending extra millions, almost has their own wind tunnel ready to go online in June. Ahead of it, the team took their drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, on a tour at the McLaren Technology Center.

The wind tunnel which is projected to begin reaping benefits in June is an integral step in the “front of the grid” goal of the orange team. “We are hopeful to have the car in the wind tunnel, which should be at that stage the new car, in June,” Stella said in Bahrain. If this does happen, then their second phase of development is their own wind tunnel.

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Do you think that the team’s vision will soon start bearing fruit for them and their talented drivers?