McLaren expecting a ‘bit of a struggle’ in the Canadian Grand Prix

McLaren fans might want to approach this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with their expectations rather low.

Because that is the approach their Team Principal is taking himself.

Speaking at the FIA Press Conferences on Friday, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella was rather blunt about his team’s chances in the Canadian GP. Due the characteristics of the track, and the minimal changes the team has made to the MCL60 for the weekend, things could be difficult for the team.

“In terms of Canada, we definitely prefer the characteristics of Barcelona because the car is strong in high speed corners,” said Stella on Friday. “Here we have no high-speed corners, quite a lot of low-speed traction so it could be a bit of a struggle.”

While some teams are bringing upgrades to the track this weekend, McLaren anticipates bringing changes to the MCL60 throughout the rest of the season.

“So actually in terms of upgrades here, we only have a rear wing which is the version that is most suitable for the level of drag that you adopt at this track,” added Stella. “Most of the upgrades we will see over the course of the following events, so there will be a major overhaul of the car that will be delivered across Austria, UK and Hungary.”

The season began with McLaren quickly realizing that they were behind where they needed to be with the MCL60. During pre-season testing itself, Stella outlined that the team needed to make some changes to the car, and hoped to have those delivered by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

When it was time to take on the Baku City Circuit, some additions were made but as Lando Norris told me before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, those really were just additions to get the MCL60 where it should have been when the season began.

“We’ve got a couple new bits on the car which is good, the team’s done a very good job to get them for now. But I think these are the things I think we said we should have started the season with,” said the driver back in April. “But we’ve got them now, which I think is the main thing. They should definitely move the car forward.”

Stella addressed that issue, as well as what the future upgrades would aim to improve, on Friday.

“Well, relatively soon, at the start of the season, we realized that the car needed a fundamental redesign so this redesign is actually interesting, I would say, pretty much every single aerodynamic part, that’s why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races,” said Stella.

“It will be decently noticeable. We had to redesign even some parts under the bodywork. That’s also why it took some time to be in condition to deliver these upgrades,” he added. “So I would say [they are hoping to improve] pretty much the entire car.”

However, while Montreal could be a struggle for McLaren this weekend, Stella did note there could be some intervention on their behalf.

From above.

“We would certainly welcome some weather,” noted the team boss on Friday.