Just 18 months ago, there was no reason to think that the last two seasons of the ground-effect era in Formula 1 would feature anything other than Red Bull domination. Twenty-one wins from 22 races in 2023 and four from the first five of 2024 suggested we’d have to wait until the next ruleset before anyone other than Max Verstappen got to shoot for the world title.
McLaren’s remarkable turnaround since its poor start to 2023, not to mention strong if inconsistent cameos from Ferrari and Mercedes, changed all that. The MCL39 has already delivered a second consecutive constructors’ crown for McLaren and Jake Boxall-Legge explains how the car came about, plus its key strengths, in part of this month’s McLaren special.
