Why McLaren refutes what Lewis Hamilton ‘heard’ about the MCL40’s upgrades

Andrea Stella has dismissed Lewis Hamilton’s claim that McLaren’s Miami upgrade gains exceeded expectations, insisting the results matched the team’s data.

Instead, says the McLaren team boss, it was “pretty much” what the data said it would be.

Andrea Stella rejects Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren upgrade claims

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Taking advantage of the unscheduled spring break, Ferrari arrived at the Miami Autodrome for round four of the championship with 11 new parts for the SF-26. McLaren, tied with Red Bull, brought the second most with seven.

All but one of the reigning world champion’s upgrades was the result of the completely new floor that the team introduced, with McLaren stating that it would bring “an increase in aerodynamic load and efficiency across all conditions”.

To maximise the new floor, McLaren revised the front and rear corner, the sidepod inlets and the engine cover, with all the parts working together to improve airflow.

The team also brought a new rear wing that featured “new elements as well as a revised endplate geometry, resulting in an overall gain in aerodynamic load and efficiency”.

The upgraded McLaren not only clinched the 1-2 in Saturday’s Sprint, it also booted Ferrari off the podium for the first time this season as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished second and third behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton claims he had “heard” that McLaren’s updates worked better than the team had expected.

“I heard McLaren brought a step, but that it was worth much more than they anticipated,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media. “That’s not how we’ve experienced ours.”

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Norris, McLaren’s best-placed driver, completed the race 40 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s best-placed driver, Charles Leclerc, before the Monegasque driver was handed a 20-second penalty for repeatedly leaving the track and gaining an advantage after damaging his SF-26 when he hit the wall on the final lap of the race.

Hamilton’s comments were put to Stella after Sunday’s 57-lap grand prix.

“He was suggesting that we got more than expected?” he said. “I would like to say yes, but the answer is no.

“Pretty much what we measure in the data is consistent with what we were expecting from the development tools. So I would say that we are in line with our expectations.

“If anything, the number of components we took here, quantity-wise, is less than Ferrari, and there’s a few more that will come in the coming races, but in terms of what we obtained for these components, that’s pretty much in line with expectation.”

McLaren’s first big batch of updates worked well for the team, who became the first outfit to outscore Mercedes this season.

Stella revealed the Miami upgrades improved not only the car’s downforce levels, but also the mechanical grip.

“In general the way in which we have improved the car is predominantly through downforce, and a little bit through the mechanical side of the grip. We think that both the downforce and the mechanical improvements resulted in just more grip, rather than a change of balance and characteristics.”

McLaren is third in the Constructors’ Championship on 94 points, 86 behind runaway early-season leaders Mercedes.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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