The orange team, McLaren, is doing much better this year in the 2024 F1 season. They’re in third place in the constructors’ standings, which is a big jump from last year. They’re ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martin, but Red Bull and Ferrari are still ahead of them.
Last year, McLaren was Red Bull’s closest rival, but this year, Ferrari has taken that spot. Ferrari has been improving a lot, especially on high-speed tracks like Suzuka. In the recent race there, Ferrari’s drivers did well and finished ahead of McLaren.
After the Suzuka race, McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, said they could still win races this year if they keep improving like they did last year.
When Lando Norris, McLaren’s driver, was asked about this, he joked that winning races soon was unlikely. But he also said they could win if they improved the car.
He said, “Honestly, Suzuka went mostly as we expected. We were behind Red Bull and Ferrari, but ahead of the other teams. We know what we need to do to get better. If we work hard and fix those things, we can win races this year and compete with Red Bull and Ferrari.”
McLaren plans to bring some big upgrades to their car in the next race in Miami. They hope these upgrades will help them compete even better for the rest of the season.
