Sprinting into uncertainty: McLaren team principal's hopes and concerns for Shanghai GP 2024

After five years of hiatus, Formula 1 is set to make a comeback to Shanghai for China GP 2024. The weekend will hold the Sprint race along with the regular GP. However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes that the upcoming racing week will be a challenging one for his team.

Despite being third in the constructor’s championship and getting great results in the last four rounds Stella feels that McLaren will face its biggest challenge in China. He backs his comments by admitting that the team’s MCL38 car has some limitations that might get exposed in Shanghai.

While speaking with media he said, "I have to say that of these first part of the season, China is the track that worries me the most from a competitiveness point of view. You have so many low-speed, hairpins. Even in corner two, corner three, you spend so long in long corners.”

"And I think it's been a theme I've been repeating. So far, we haven't been able to improve the car enough in these low-speed, medium-speed long corners. So, from a competitive competitiveness point of view, I would expect a more difficult situation than here in Suzuka, Australia and the first part of the season.”

Stella believes the Sprint race is a golden opportunity!

Further speaking about the first Sprint race of the season McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged that tyre graining will be another concern for the team due to the sprint race. However, he sees Sprint as an opportunity as the lack of data and practice of rivals might help his team.

He said, ‘Definitely it's going to be a challenging event, from several points of view [like] what tarmac situation will we find? At the same time, let's not forget that China was one of the most severe tracks for graining. So how will the tyres be able to cope with this?

“There won’t be much practice to realise where we are from a graining point of view. It’s also a tricky track in terms of balance between some very high-speed corners, like entering corner one, and then many low-speed sections.”

"Seeing it in isolation, it gives a headache. But once you see it from a competitive point of view, I think you need to think: 'If I do not do a perfect job, but a little bit better job than others, then this could be a big opportunity."