After roaming Formula 1’s wilderness for more than a decade, McLaren is finally going places. It’s not back in the promised land yet, but one of F1’s greatest teams is close to recapturing past glories and re-emerging as a regular winner. It would be premature to back it for a title tilt this year, although it’s not impossible, but victories should be on the cards and the tantalising signs that it could soon be a championship-winning force are clear.
McLaren’s astonishing turnaround from backmarker to podium regular last year was a canary in the coalmine, warning its rise should be taken seriously. At times, it was Red Bull’s closest threat, with a car that flew on high-speed tracks such as Silverstone, Suzuka and Qatar, but confidence in McLaren’s revival is rooted in more than just a strong half-season. Its form was a manifestation of a strategic, long-term approach to rebuilding the team from the foundations with multiple keystones now in place rooted in the shock of ditching troubled Honda propulsion for Renault in 2018. That laid bare McLaren’s own technical weaknesses, shattering the confidence it was producing good cars let down by uncompetitive engines.
Gradually, the building
