McLaren's MCL34 impressing Red Bull's Newey

Red Bull design Adrian Newey has noted a "good step" made by McLaren with their 2019 car, the MCL34, labelling his former employers' potential resurgence as being good for Formula 1 as a whole. Although McLaren have started 2019 with two DNFs and just one points finish, their car appears to have made progress.

Both Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris made it into Q3 at the Bahrain Grand Prix – the first time McLaren had both cars in the top-10 shootout since the 2017 Malaysian GP.

McLaren's recent achievements have been a far cry from Newey's time at the team, which encompassed Mika Hakkinen's title-winning campaigns.

Newey was spotted taking a particular interest in the MCL34 on the Sakhir grid, with McLaren enjoying some of the best top-line speeds over the weekend.

"McLaren have obviously had a rough couple of years in terms of probably their chassis not being as good as it could be but they have turned it around this year," Newey said on the 'In The Pink' podcast.

Newey dice q McLaren ha hecho un paso adelante importante. En la parrilla de Baréin se pasó mucho, muchísimo rato mirando el MCL34... pic.twitter.com/JvM3VOPQmB

— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) April 10, 2019

"That's good for the sport.

"I think they've produced a good car, for sure, which should certainly give them a much better season than they had last year.

"It's unlikely it's going to give them race-winning performance but they have made a good step which is positive for the sport."

Norris secured a sixth-place finish in Bahrain, a result bettered only by Fernando Alonso for McLaren in the past four seasons.

Related

Chinese Grand Prix

FIA stewards ROB Hamilton pole after bizarre U-turn

• Today 10:58

Chinese Grand Prix

F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 times as Verstappen stunned in rainy CHAOS

• Today 10:27