00:02Japan is a happy hunting ground for McLaren with nine victories for the most outright in the land
00:08of the rising sun. Two at Fuji, seven at Suzuka. But while 2026 didn't net the milestone 10th,
00:18it did mark a return to form and fortune for the Papaya squad.
00:25Following a series of MGU-K related issues, which forced Oscar Piastri to crash in Australia
00:31en route to the grid, caused a double DNS in China and affected Lando Norris' practice running in Japan.
00:40At Suzuka, a resurgent Piastri came home in second place, his shot at the wind destroyed by the safety
00:46car. Norris was fifth. And presenter Lawrence Barreto told official podcast F1 Nation,
00:54the long break to Miami will be an important chance for McLaren to fly higher with upgrades,
00:59which the team has used to great effect in the past.
01:05I think McLaren have an underdeveloped chassis. So I think they realized very late on last year
01:10that maybe the methodologies that they were using weren't quite right. And that's kind of just meant
01:14that they've turned up with an ultra baseline car that they need to add performance to. So
01:19actually, we just need to wait for the McLaren of old.
01:25Regardless, McLaren's F1 season so far is a long way from its 2025 best, when under vastly
01:32different regulations, it was considered favorite right from the outset, with a stable platform and
01:37driver lineup that was gunning to get out front and fight for the title.
01:44Yeah, I'm super excited for what we've got in store. Obviously, last year was a great result for
01:48the whole team and for both of us as drivers. But we want to take that next step up and
01:53fight from
01:53the beginning. It's now time to get the most from the new regulations and take the fight to the
01:59works team and its power unit partner, Mercedes.
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