McLaren knock on the door: Are they a real threat to Verstappen?

Norris' Grand Prix victory in Miami a fortnight ago has opened the British team's eyes. It has dawned on McLaren that Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen are beatable; on a modern semi-street circuit like Miami as well as on an old-school track like Imola. In just over a year, McLaren seems to have emerged as the main challenger to Verstappen and Red Bull, but the question is: can McLaren maintain the form shown in the US and Italy at all the circuits remaining on the calendar?

Horner counts on a strong McLaren every race

Christian Horner, Red Bull's team boss, cannot help but conclude that McLaren has become stronger. "We expect them to be competitive at all circuits. There are certain circuits that play to our strengths and there's certain circuits that don't. And the last couple have been circuits that haven't played into the inherent strengths of the car," he told the media in Imola, including GPblog.

McLaren's victory in Miami was largely due to the moment the safety car entered the track and the wrong procedure followed by race control. Had everything gone according to the rules with the safety car, Norris would have had to make a pit stop at a much more unfavourable time in Florida, would have returned to the track somewhere around spot seven, and would never have been able to threaten Verstappen.

This made Imola difficult for Red Bull

In Imola, Norris did find himself in Verstappen's wake purely on speed. But to judge whether this means McLaren can be a challenger to Red Bull every Grand Prix, it is important to know why the Austrians did not dominate at a circuit like Imola. A key reason could be the RB20's ride height. Red Bull likes to set their car as low to the ground as possible.

This is not possible on street circuits, with many bumps in the road surface, which explains why Red Bull alway struggle to find the right set-up in Singapore, for example. Although Imola is a permanent circuit, Red Bull could not tune the RB20 as low as it would have liked. This is because the curbs are particularly high at the Italian circuit, so extra margin had to be built in in terms of ride height. That made finding the right set-up quite a puzzle.

Updates work for McLaren

The win in Miami was somewhat fortunate; in Imola, rivals Red Bull never managed to find the best set-up. Yet it is far too short of the mark to then say that it was mainly because of the Austrians that McLaren completed two strong races in a row. On circuits with very fast corners, the McLaren is exceptionally fast, and at Imola, there are many. So all in all, Imola was a difficult circuit for Red Bull, while the track suited McLaren exactly.

Moreover, with the latest series of updates - first implemented in Miami - McLaren seems to have taken a significant step forward. There are now more and more types of tracks on the calendar where the McLaren feels at home. Moreover, Christian Horner concluded, "Their philosophy is very similar to ours." The Red Bull Racing team boss seems to know: McLaren must be reckoned with for the rest of the season every time. Given the way the Briths team are continuing to develop their car and Norris' current confidence, that is not something to be doubted.