McLaren is confident the 2019 car will react to upgrades, unlike its 2018 predecessor.
Last year saw the British team start strongly with Fernando Alonso scoring points in the first five races but after that he and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne would only manage five more top 10’s.
This was due mostly to the MCL33 proving a difficult chassis to develop, with their midfield rivals moving ahead but after a similarly strong beginning to this year, the key now is maintaining it.
“I wouldn’t call it a radical concept change – it is an evolution of the car and it is not the first time we’ve got new parts on the car at the track,” team boss Andreas Seidl said of the Spanish GP upgrades to Crash.net.
“I think the good thing is this year we have a car that is actually reacting to the updates we are bringing because, as I gathered from the guys back home and the racing guys here, the issue last year was whatever they did the car simply did not react to the updates.
“That is positive that it is reacting now and it is giving a positive feeling inside the company at the moment.
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“We all know it is a development race inside the midfield where we are fighting at the moment and having a car which you can develop over the season is what we tried to give for each race.”
For Seidl, the race in Barcelona was his first since becoming the new team boss at McLaren and the former head of Porsche’s LMP1 program is keen to push the British outfit forward.
“Of course my personal ambitions are high but the case is the same for every single member of the team,” he told Sky Sports.
“At the same time, we need to be realistic. There is some hard work ahead of us at McLaren.
“The positive thing is that there is a lot of positive momentum and I think a lot of the changes Zak [Brown] made last year are paying off already.
“Now it’s down to me, together with the team, to keep going in that direction and, step by step, getting closer to the top guys.”