McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has indicated that the team’s new wind tunnel will improve the Woking-based outfit’s chances of victory, with it set to go online mid-2023.
This news will come as music to the ears of Lando Norris, with the British driver wanting a better package in order to compete for higher positions.
McLaren need to give Norris a competitive car in order to retain his services beyond 2025, with the 23-year-old likely to be of interest to some of the bigger teams in the sport.
Red Bull have previously approached Norris on multiple occasions, with the likelihood being that they’ll try to poach the British star once again, when his deal with McLaren expires at the end of 2025.
READ: ‘How do you react to that?’ Guenther Steiner hits out at the FIA
The team’s new wind tunnel should result in them moving closer to the front in 2024 and 2025, with Norris believing that they’ll have “no more excuses” in regard to not performing, when the wind tunnel is up and running.
“The wind tunnel? I hope our new one will help us for 2024 and 2025,” Norris said.
“I have to have faith that my team can do a good job. [2024] will be our first year in which we have no more excuses.
“At the moment we can still come up with good excuses. Believe me, nobody likes to say that we had the best possible weekend and that we’re behind for the reasons just mentioned. We always look at what we can do better. 2024 will be the first year in which we operate with our infrastructure almost at the level of the top teams. The rest is then up to us, the people who work here.”
Brown has revealed that the British side are already working on their 2024 challenger before they’ve even released their 2023 competitor, one which will hopefully see the historic team compete closer to the frontrunners.
Remarkably, McLaren are “80% ready” for 2024 already, suggesting that big things are in the pipeline.
“It’s starting to impact our 2024 car and it will have full impact for our 2025 car,” Brown told Speedcafe.
“It’s coming online in the middle of this year, which means we’ve already started on our 2024 car. So I think we have everything we need for the 2025 season fully in place. We are 80% ready for the 2024 season.”
The new wind tunnel comes at a time when the future is looking incredibly bright for McLaren, with the side boasting a young, but extremely talented line-up.
2023 will be Norris’ fifth year in the sport already, despite being just 23, whilst alongside him will be the highly rated 2021 F2 World Champion Oscar Piastri, who is 21 years old.
READ: Defiant Sebastian Vettel insists his ‘views won’t be retired’
With this in mind, Brown believes everything is coming together at the right time, with 2024 and 2025 already looking incredibly promising for the team.
“I think it fits well with Oscar becoming a rookie this year,” Brown added.
“I feel like everything is really going to come together in 2024 and 2025.”