Red Bull team principal Christian Horner conceded that McLaren has “definitely made a step forward” following their series of upgrades at the Miami Grand Prix.
Lando Norris seized the opportunity presented by a well-timed Safety Car to snatch the lead from Max Verstappen on Sunday. Impressively, he widened his lead throughout the latter part of the race to secure his first Formula 1 victory, overcoming the formidable Red Bull RB20 in the process.
The FIA’s upgrade showcase document offers fans and media insight into the modifications made to the cars before each race weekend. McLaren’s extensive enhancements for Miami, totaling 10 upgrades, raised eyebrows.
All these new components were installed on Norris’ car, with half available for teammate Oscar Piastri and the remainder slated for his car at the next round in Imola. McLaren CEO Zak Brown likened the MCL38 to almost a B-spec car with these upgrades.
Following McLaren’s victory in Miami, albeit with speculation that Max Verstappen had damage from a bollard collision, Horner commented on the threat McLaren poses moving forward.
He acknowledged McLaren’s strong performance and expressed curiosity about their performance in upcoming races, particularly upon returning to Europe.
Horner said, “They’ve obviously won the race, they had good pace in the second half of the race.
“They were quick on the medium in the sprint race qualify, but we still managed two poles earlier this weekend, the sprint victory and we were leading the race had it not been for the Safety Car – but you can see they’ve definitely made a step forward.”
He added, “So it will be then interesting to see what happens over the next few races now once we head back to Europe.
“McLaren showed real pace last year at certain times, so how circuit specific is it? We’ll see as we go through the next few races, but they’ve been very strong this weekend and Lando deserves the win.”
Norris acknowledged that McLaren’s upgrade package contributed to his performance over the weekend. He expressed confidence in the team’s ability to compete for race wins this season despite previous doubts.
“I said at the beginning of the year we could win races. A lot of people doubted what I could say and the fact that I said that,” Norris stated. “I think they doubted that McLaren could win races. They doubted that I could win races, but I was confident. Deep down I knew that we had our time coming.”
He continued, “So the team have done an amazing job. We weren’t even into Q2 here last year, so now the fact we’re on top, we’ve won a race, the team have done an insane job to kind of go from where we were to where we are now.”
Norris expressed gratitude to the McLaren team for their hard work and emphasized the significance of the upgrades in achieving victory. He credited the collective effort of the team for their success.
