Will McLaren bring a modified floor to the Belgian GP or not? Team boss Andrea Stella seemed to be in doubt earlier, even though the new part worked well at Silverstone. However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown reveals that his team has made a decision, and even dares to bring an upgrade to the Belgian sprint weekend.
McLaren is not the only racing team bringing upgrades to the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Red Bull and Ferrari also announced earlier that they would be adding new parts to their cars during the Belgian GP. The timing is notable, as the Belgian GP is a sprint weekend. This means that the teams only have one hour on Friday to test their new upgrades. However, McLaren does have a slight advantage over competitors Red Bull and Ferrari, as the team had already brought the floor to Silverstone.
McLaren Brings New Floor to Belgium
Despite Team Principal Andrea Stella’s previous doubts about whether his team wanted to take the risk of introducing new upgrades during a sprint weekend, McLaren CEO Zak Brown now confirms that the team will indeed do so. The American was asked by Sky F1 at Silverstone about his expectations for the Belgian GP. “A bit more of the same. Perhaps not a 32-second gap with the rest of the field, but more of the same.” Race winner Lando Norris finished at Silverstone nearly 35 seconds ahead of third-place Nico Hülkenberg.
“The floor worked well, so we’re going to unpack it and throw it on both cars,” Brown reveals. “It was always intended as a test part during the British GP weekend, but we were happy with what we saw. So there’s more to come.” Isn’t Brown afraid that racing fans are already tired of McLaren’s dominance – the team has won nine out of the twelve races this season? “I think all these races have been epic, even though the number of McLaren victories doesn’t reflect that. Every race is quite stressful, so as long as they’re great to watch on TV, I hope we win another nine out of the twelve races. But it’s an exciting season.”
