McLaren’s win in Zandvoort, its second in a row after Budapest, highlighted a key point: the updates introduced on either side of the summer break did more than restore the aerodynamic load the car had been missing. They also enabled the team to take a decisive step forward.
At the Barcelona Grand Prix, for instance, McLaren’s strengths had already begun to emerge, and the same was true at Spa, where the car appeared in its most convincing form. The faster and longer the corner, because absolute speed alone is not the sole factor, the more competitive the car becomes. The latest upgrades delivered the extra downforce required to turn the car into the benchmark through those sections.
