McLaren’s technical department believes it understands the team’s 2022 Formula 1 contender sufficiently that it can begin working on its weaknesses.
The squad slipped to fifth in the constructors’ championship following the Hungarian Grand Prix last month.
That comes despite a significant upgrade package having been introduced at the French Grand Prix, following on from developments debuted in Spain in May.
Feedback from drivers has suggested that has seen the car move forward, especially Daniel Ricciardo, who suggested the MCL36 was finally beginning to give him the feel he has been seeking all season.
However, weaknesses remain in the package with Technical Director, James Key, having a clear idea of what his team needs to do to improve it further.
“I think we all know what we want to do with our cars, it’s just the difficult bit is doing it,” he said.
“Probably the better way to describe that is we can see what we need to do with the car, in that I think when you look at competitor analysis, you hear the driver feedback, of course we’ve got a tonne of data surrounding our car as well.
“We can understand where the deficiencies lie and link the driver comments to what the car is doing.
“Obviously we attack the deficiencies as our primary goal, and we can see in sense what we need to do next, and probably what the advantages is for the two teams which have dominated this year.
“The performance you see from Red Bull and Ferrari is actually quite different, but it results in a similar level of competitiveness,” he added.
“I think with our analysis, and I think every team does it, you can get a sense of what you need to do, what you need to try and achieve.
“Taking where we are now, and you know with this [French GP] update kind of proving a few things as well, we can see where we need to head.
“Writing a brief for that is the easy part. Getting there, of course, is what we’re all trying to do day in, day out.”
Formula 1 returns from its summer break this week with the Belgian Grand Prix.
It is also the first weekend at which new rules will be in force which will see the FIA monitoring the vertical acceleration within cars with a view to reducing the prevalence, and severity, of porpoising.
That has the potential to shake up the order somewhat, with two teams though to have been exploiting a loophole in the regulations that has since been covered off.
The changes have, ostensibly, been introduced for driver safety, though could also see a minor shake-up in the pecking order – particularly at the very front.
Free Practice 1 for the Belgian GP gets underway on Friday from 22:00 AEST.