McLaren's Vegas Nightmare: How F1's Top Team Lost Their Way

Despite being among the strongest teams in the latter half of 2024 - a run that eventually delivered McLaren their first Teams' Championship since 1998 - the papaya squad endured an unexpectedly tough weekend around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Mercedes dominated with a 1-2, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished only sixth and seventh as McLaren struggled for pace throughout.

"Vegas last year was one of the most difficult races," Stella said. "We had difficulties with the behaviour of the tyres, and the behaviour of the tyres in Qualifying because we were not fast, and the behaviour of the tyres in the race because we had a lot of graining."

Stella revealed that the problems extended beyond tyres, with aerodynamic limitations and set-up compromises preventing the team from unlocking performance.

"We had also some aerodynamic issues - when we tried to offload the rear wing, we saw that we were losing too much efficiency. And we also had a bit of issues with the set-up of the car in a way, trying to compensate this graining and some of the understeer."

The full review of the weekend, he said, gave McLaren "a lot of information" on what must change before returning to the venue in 2025 - a race that could carry major significance amid a tight Drivers' Championship battle involving Norris, Piastri and Max Verstappen.

As a result, Stella says McLaren have taken corrective steps across the board.

"I would say that from a tyre point of view, from an aerodynamic efficiency point of view and from a car set-up point of view, we know in which direction we should change compared to last year."

However, he cautioned that only the on-track performance will reveal whether the fixes have worked.

"Will it be enough to be competitive now? We will only see it in Vegas. But definitely we took actions in response to what we saw last year, because certainly the performance wasn't satisfactory enough."

- IANS