McLaren has acknowledged that their performance level during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend would not have been strong enough to mount a serious challenge against the leading pace of George Russell and Max Verstappen, even under optimal circumstances. The admission comes as the Woking-based team continues to assess their competitive position following the Montreal race weekend.
The acknowledgment suggests McLaren remains realistic about their current performance gap to the front-runners, despite recent improvements to their MCL60 package. While the team has made significant strides in recent races, the Canadian GP highlighted areas where further development is needed to consistently compete with Mercedes’ Russell and Red Bull’s championship leader Verstappen.
This honest self-assessment from McLaren indicates the team’s focus on continued development rather than overestimating their current capabilities. The Canadian Grand Prix served as another benchmark for measuring progress, with the team using the weekend’s data to guide future upgrade directions as they work to close the gap to the sport’s pace-setters in the remaining races of the 2023 Formula 1 season.