‘Something doesn’t feel right about McLaren’s MCL60 approach’ for F1 2023 season

A respected Formula 1 technical analyst has raised questions over McLaren’s approach with the MCL60 for the 2023 season, claiming the team have not been bold enough with the design of their new car.

After finishing a disappointing fifth in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship, McLaren unveiled the MCL60 with muted expectation this week as new team principal Andrea Stella admitted the team are “not entirely happy” with the launch-spec car.

The MCL60 has been noted for its similarities to last year’s title-winning car, the Red Bull RB18 and technical expert Craig Scarborough believes the move to copy another team’s concept is out of step for a team with ambitions of returning to regular race-winning contention.

Appearing on F1 journalist Peter Windsor’s YouTube channel, he said: “When I first saw the MCL60, it really looks like a warmed-over, orange-painted Red Bull from last year.

“All of the features are very Red Bull-like in terms of the sidepods, some of the features around the rest of the car. If you actually lay the two side by side, they really look very, very similar.

“Obviously the stuff that we see on the top of the car isn’t really where the performance is. The performance is actually underneath the car and in the detail of the suspension, so assuming they’ve copied the top half they’ve probably copied lots of the underside of the car as well.

“Is that good or bad for McLaren? It’s very hard to come to a balanced opinion when you look at some of the other cars that have really followed a similar-ish direction.

“Someone like Williams, for example, it’s probably a good thing that they’ve gone in that direction.

“For McLaren, if they really want to close that gap I can’t see how copying a car from last year – albeit the fastest car from last year – is the direction to be heading in.

“And the team just didn’t seem to think the aero was where they wanted it to be, so it’s very hard to see where McLaren are at the moment.

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“They really should be making that big leap that we’ve been waiting for, that was building up before 2022 and kind of took a little nose-dive certainly through the first part of last year.

“I’m a little bit underwhelmed by the MCL60. I don’t think it’s necessarily the approach they needed to take. I don’t think it’s bold enough for them.

“However, if you’re making it around some good bones which was the RB18, Championship-winning car from last year, then really how far can they go wrong?

“But something doesn’t feel right about this approach for me.”

Despite his reservations Scarborough expects McLaren to make a solid start to the season but feels they might encounter problems with the development of the MCL60, claiming it is harder for teams who copy their rivals’ designs to develop an intimate understanding of a car.

He added: “I think McLaren have to do a lot to this car to get it to chase the top three.

“It may come out of the blocks quite quickly, but because they’ve taken someone else’s concept how much development do they have in that?

“We often see with teams that take someone else’s concept that it’s tricky because you’re not actually learning everything yourself.

“You’re following a design, getting it to work in the way that you like and sometimes you don’t have that underlying knowledge, which can make it tricky.

“I think McLaren’s story through this year is probably going to be a tale of several parts, from how they are out of the blocks and when they get the first big developments on to that car and how much they can catch up everybody else when you have a resurgent midfield.

“Alpine are going to come out very strong this year, hopefully with the reliability they lacked last year, so McLaren have got a big fight on their hands both in front of them and behind.

“For me, it’s just a strange direction for them to have taken this year.”