Some people have been seeing McLaren in a very different light recently. In the 2019 film Hobbs & Shaw, the McLaren Technology Centre factory becomes a villainous organisation’s base. In the HBO science fiction television comedy series Avenue 5, the same building is restyled as mission control for an interplanetary cruise ship operator. Most recently, Disney+ Star Wars TV spinoff Andor reimagined the MTC as a bustling space port.
But, to Formula 1 fans, the results of the real-life work completed inside the gigantic Norman Foster-designed complex appear very familiar. If anything in 2023, they’re looking rather worse than previous years, when it appeared that the orange team was finally gaining the momentum required to take it back to race and title-winning peaks it has not scaled since 2008 and Lewis Hamilton’s first world championship triumph.
At this stage in 2022, McLaren had racked up 46 points and sat fourth in the constructors’ championship, its start to life in the new rules era exactly where it had finished the last in 2021, and even behind the third place it rather impressively secured in 2020.
Now, however, the squad is fifth in the teams’ standings with just 14 points from the opening five rounds. It’s just a one-position slip, but standing in stark contrast are the results and silverware haul of Aston Martin. McLaren’s former midfield rival is currently Red Bull’s closest challenger and has four podiums and counting. Since 2019, McLaren has managed eight rostrum visits – a total Aston seems on course to match in this campaign alone, judging by the typically ferocious form of its new talisman, former McLaren star Fernando Alonso.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” insists McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “But it’s not as good as it should be.”
Correct on both scores. First off, McLaren has been mightily unlucky at
