McLaren failed to hit development targets with 2023 F1 car

The Woking-based team has faced a few teething problems in pre-season testing, with
its running slightly limited on Thursday after needing to reinforce parts to avoid
failures.

Furthermore, drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have not looked especially
comfortable out on track, with their lap times not at the head of the timesheets
either.

McLaren's difficulties are not a total surprise, though, with team principal Andrea
Stella revealing at the MCL60 reveal that it was not entirely happy with the launch
specification car.

However, there are hopes that development upgrades arriving around the time of the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix will help address some of the deficit.

Speaking at the Bahrain test on Friday, CEO Zak Brown admitted that McLaren was
behind where it wanted to be but said there was not yet a clear picture of just
where it stacked up against the opposition.

“It's hard to know until we get going,” he said when asked by Autosport how much on
the back foot he anticipated the team could be.

“We know we set some goals for development, which we didn't hit, and we felt it was
better to be honest about that.

“Like everyone, we have a lot of development coming. So, we are encouraged by what
we see around the corner.