McLaren’s ‘number one problem’ at US GP mirrors Ferrari’s season-long F1 woe

Sky Sports F1 analyst Ted Kravitz believes McLaren’s struggles at the United States Grand Prix were due to being “conservative” with their ride height choice.

McLaren saw their cars finish second and fifth at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday.

Unlike in races earlier in the season, McLaren didn’t have a significant pace advantage in the grand prix.

This meant Lando Norris spent most of his race stuck behind Charles Leclerc, losing crucial time to Max Verstappen ahead.

Oscar Piastri had a frustrating afternoon, finishing a disappointing fifth, just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Unlike their rivals, McLaren didn’t gain any data from the sprint race.

Piastri and Norris crashed out on the opening lap of the sprint following an unfortunate multi-car collision.

With parc fermé conditions lifted after the sprint race on Saturday, teams were allowed to make crucial setup changes.

Kravitz’s theory for McLaren’s struggles

While Norris’ race was compromised by being stuck behind Leclerc, it looked as if he still had similar pace to Verstappen in front.

However, Verstappen might have had pace in hand, given the margin he had built up due to Leclerc.

In the ground-effect era, ride height and ensuring the plank isn’t excessively worn has been a balancing act for all teams.

Both Ferraris were disqualified from the Chinese GP due to excessive wear - an issue that has plagued them all season.

Kravitz thinks McLaren didn’t optimise this, hence their lack of pace relative to earlier in the season.

“Piastri was never anywhere near Hamilton. And it all began at the start of the weekend,” Kravitz said after the race.

“Then it was made worse with an OK practice session. I mean, it was fine. It was all made worse for McLaren in the Sprint Race because of Oscar’s ill-judged move with Nico Hulkenberg at the front that hit him into Lando Norris, and because neither McLaren did the Sprint Race, they didn’t know how the car was going to be on its ride heights.

“They didn’t know how to set the ride height so as to be in the perfect position to be as close to the ground and get a nice downforce, but not wear away the legality plank.

“The piece of wood they have underneath the car to stop the car from running too close to the ground.

“So, they had to be conservative. McLaren had to raise the car up a little bit and give themselves some margin. So, performance just ebbed away.

“Red Bull, Max won the Sprint. They knew exactly where to suspend their car, where to run their car so that they’d be as close to the ground as possible, giving maximum downforce and not wear away the plank. They got it spot on.

“Ferrari got it spot on. Mercedes got it spot on. But McLaren had to take some margin. And that was problem number one.”