McLaren MCL38 data reveals how Red Bull’s RB20 is no longer fastest

McLaren has been in great form since the Miami GP. The papaya team, with the major upgrade it introduced before the European tour, has taken a big step forward and now has the best car on the grid ahead of Red Bull and Mercedes.

There are several areas where the MCL38 is superior to the RB20 and W15 at the moment, but before analysing them…. Where was McLaren before the Miami updates, and what did those updates include that made Lando Norris, and more recently Oscar Piastri, take off?

How McLaren climbed to the top of the F1 ladder

After a quiet start to the first four races of the season, Andrea Stella himself made no secret after the second race in Jeddah of McLaren’s obvious top speed and low-speed cornering problems.

The latter was not as critical because it was compensated by a higher downforce set-up. This also worsened the first of the main problems where McLaren accumulated the biggest time losses due to high drag.

Up to that point and later in Japan and China, Red Bull was untouchable. And Ferrari was one step ahead of the MCL38, too, in terms of low-speed cornering performance and race pace, especially in high track temperatures.

Catch-up on the latest F1 data-driven talking points

👉 Data reveals how Red Bull’s Championship hopes are in serious jeopardy

👉 Revealed: The data that could have Lewis Hamilton regretting his Ferrari move

But everything started to change in China when Norris, thanks to a Safety Car and a great final stint, managed to prevent another Red Bull 1-2.

Here we started to see the true potential of an MCL38 – still far from Verstappen – that with lower fuel loads at race pace could really excel and its problems in long and slow corners did not seem as severe, as the team itself mentioned.

And then came Miami. No one really understood why McLaren didn’t wait for Imola to introduce the updates as the first European venue seemed the best place to test the new parts. But they shocked everyone by revamping the MCL38 almost completely.

Highlights of this upgrade included a new front suspension geometry, a new sidepod input, a completely new front wing, a new floor and optimised bodywork and engine cover to improve the drag problem on the straights.

What impact did this major upgrade have? Obviously, in a roundabout way, Lando Norris’ first F1 victory. Although it was mostly achieved by a Safety Car that handed him P1 on a plate.

Even so, even on qualifying pace, the MCL38 proved to be faster than the RB20, although difficult track conditions in Q3 prevented Lando Norris – Oscar Piastri only had half of the upgrades – from getting the most out of the new parts.

In terms of performance, the upgrades have clearly improved his car’s drag problem. And also with the aerodynamic improvements, the MCL38 is the better car on corner exit which allows for better acceleration at the start of the straights to compensate for the lack of top speed.

Something they were already playing with at the beginning of the season, but now it gives them a much better result after correcting that ‘skin friction’ drag issue.

Where the greatness of McLaren’s improvements was really seen was at Imola. With a completely revamped Ferrari and on a circuit that in theory should be better suited to Red Bull’s characteristics, McLaren once again had the fastest car. Mercedes at this stage was still out of the equation.

However, the Max Verstappen ‘effect’ came into play. A magical element that only drivers of the calibre of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max himself always have in store when they don’t have the best car.

A saving slipstream from Hülkenberg in qualifying and a fierce defence from Verstappen stopped Lando Norris and McLaren from a second consecutive victory in Emilia-Romagna.

After Charles Leclerc’s display in Monaco and Red Bull’s problems on the bumpy streets of Monte Carlo, Mercedes joined the fray in Canada thanks to its new front wing that delivered very good performance results. Ferrari, on the contrary, dropped out of the fight since then.

After Canada came Spain and Austria. It was at the home of Red Bull that McLaren introduced its second improvements of the season. A new front wing and revised front suspension geometry.

Despite Verstappen’s stellar qualifying dominance, McLaren’s race pace on Sunday put Red Bull at risk as a bad tyre choice and a mistake by Verstappen set up Lando Norris’ overtake.

Verstappen succumbed to pressure for the first time all season and caused an accident with Lando Norris when McLaren had everything in their favour to steal victory from Red Bull on their own circuit. A victory that eventually went to George Russell.

With great aero efficiency on the straights, the Red Bull is still a particularly fast car in fast corners, but it clearly needs to improve in the low-speed turns. Especially those where they have to attack the kerbs.

It’s a problem that wasn’t so exposed at the start of the season – only Ferrari scared them off in Australia after Verstappen’s early DNF – but since McLaren’s improvement it’s clearly a point for the Milton Keynes engineering team to work on.

Since then, the fight for victories has also been conditioned by elements intrinsic to the races beyond the pure performance of the cars: rain, bad and good strategic decisions, different tyre choices, accidents, reliability problems, disqualifications…

But always with a common denominator that did not occur at the beginning of the season where Red Bull dominated with a 30 or 40 seconds advantage at the end of the first few races over the rest: McLaren has always been in the fight since Miami.

And the Constructors’ World Championship speaks for itself with linear and steady progress. Since Miami, McLaren has scored 270 points, Mercedes 214 points, Red Bull 213 points and Ferrari 194 points.

Since the major updates, the MCL38 has proved to be a very complete car. It has not been a development plan with abrupt changes in terms of philosophy and performance, but it has been a clear overall improvement.

Of course, there are certain defects that are still to be polished – not only with the car…

Read next: Max Verstappen to Mercedes expectations rise with Eddie Jordan ‘anything but surprised’ verdict