2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

Yes it can.

#ArgumentClinic.

Kudos if you get that without Google.

[CjC]

Wednesday cannot come quick enough!

The starting day for 3 weeks of debating over whom is binding the most pace

[organic]

Wednesday cannot come quick enough!

The starting day for 3 weeks of debating over whom is binding the most pace

It's always pretty obvious during testing which teams are happy/disappointed though. In 22 everyone knew Ferrari were very happy, red bull too. In 23 everyone knew AMR had made a huge leap but that RB was the benchmark and Ferrari/Merc had messed up. And in 24 it was clear red bull were thrilled and Ferrari quietly happy, Merc not so happy. And these trends were reflected in the early season results

But yes there's usually a lot of debate about relative pace. Personally I prefer to focus on the vibes

[Seanspeed]

No they don’t have equal footing, but they wouldn’t say McLaren has some input on the design phase if that wasn’t true to some degree, which what the guy was denying.

In any case, this was McLaren’s best choice. They get one of the power units which will likely be close to the best, if not the best, while also having more input than a normal customer.

They considered RBPT for a short while, but RBPT is way too inexperienced and I doubt they will be competitive in 2026, whereas a Ferrari-powered McLaren will never happen.

The only other option was to develop it themselves like RedBull, but it’s too late for that. It could be a consideration for the next reg cycle, assuming McLaren keeps an upward trend.

The guy wasn't denying that, though. Only arguing about the degree to which it was actually true. Because this is all about nuance and degrees of truth, if you yourself even agree that they aren't on equal footing. You simply side on the collaboration being much stronger, while the other person believing the collaboration being less strong. You're not fundamentally disagreeing on the core argument here, which you've been trying to portray them as doing, and the only reason I felt like speaking up.

[Emag]

No they don’t have equal footing, but they wouldn’t say McLaren has some input on the design phase if that wasn’t true to some degree, which what the guy was denying.

In any case, this was McLaren’s best choice. They get one of the power units which will likely be close to the best, if not the best, while also having more input than a normal customer.

They considered RBPT for a short while, but RBPT is way too inexperienced and I doubt they will be competitive in 2026, whereas a Ferrari-powered McLaren will never happen.

The only other option was to develop it themselves like RedBull, but it’s too late for that. It could be a consideration for the next reg cycle, assuming McLaren keeps an upward trend.

The guy wasn't denying that, though. Only arguing about the degree to which it was actually true. Because this is all about nuance and degrees of truth, if you yourself even agree that they aren't on equal footing. You simply side on the collaboration being much stronger, while the other person believing the collaboration being less strong. You're not fundamentally disagreeing on the core argument here, which you've been trying to portray them as doing, and the only reason I felt like speaking up.

They are a customer team whatever their PR department tells you.

First sentence of the original comment.

I have noticed you like to seemingly argue for the sake of arguing sometimes though, a symptom of wanting to get the last word no matter what. I have nothing to say beyond this point, however the original comment pretty clearly downplayed the level of cooperation to being almost non-existent beyond a simple customer and even reduced it to a PR agenda.

[BMMR61]

The arguments seem to be, when stepping back a few paces, like "straining at gnats".

I think it's obvious that achieving performance parity like McLaren have in 2024 is likely to be at the least, eroded, in 2026 when the PU developer introduces new a design to a concept the "works" team orders. Yes there are regulations which attempt to give engine parity but it isn't the PU performance delivered, it's more about the insider knowledge of the concept that was started 24 months earlier. A chassis is designed around the knowledge of the concept and is well tested in wind tunnels and run through simulation. Expect McLaren to lose some of it's current advantage, though if there's a considerable advantage at the end of 2025 this may be enough to counter much of this "insider" PU concept knowledge.

[Darth-Piekus]

You're arguing about schematics. The fact is Mclaren has a saying to how the engine will be tailored to both the needs of Mercedes and Mclaren courtesy of a special agreement that Zak Brown accomplished. A fully customer team does not have that priviledge and it will become obvious in 2026 compared to the other customers. For now let's focus on tomorrow as I am curious to see where our car stands as so far I have seen some beautifully designed cars from the other teams.

[Arcanum]

It's childish, I know, but I just watched the video of the RB21 pulling into its pit box during today's Red Bull filming day. A pit box which is 3 positions down the pit lane. I couldn't help but smile at the orange McLaren pit gear being first in the pit lane.

Great for the drivers with the smoothest entry. Should help a little in the races. Though not when it's just started raining and they have to wait for a procession of cars to come past before being released.

[_cerber1]

[Darth-Piekus]

The action is finally starting again. I wish good luck to the team and I hope to see a car that will dominate from the start helping us secure the first double after 26 years.

[geogate]

Ted is saying that the mclaren looks the most radical, more so than ferrari - we will see if that is good or bad very soon

[elldizzle]

Not much running for the first hour..

[emp]

They are just checking systems and stuff.

[MrGapes]

Not much running for the first hour..

this is usually how preseason session 1 is for mclaren, in and out single runs to collect correlation data

[elldizzle]

Not really pushing at all, and I suspect higher fuel, but car looks solid. Corner entry looked good, nice rotation mid corner, stable on exit. Ferrari looked a bit sketchy at times with Hamilton.