2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

I'm still not prepared to fully release my optimism, but it's building.

[LionsHeart]

I'm still not prepared to fully release my optimism, but it's building.

Everything may change by the time of qualification.

[f1rules]

well yes and no, i actually think qual can be close especially on a lala track like this, but its in race trim mclaren will show its strong performance with all Marshalls input now incorporated for this year

I'm still not prepared to fully release my optimism, but it's building.

Everything may change by the time of qualification.

[LionsHeart]

well yes and no, i actually think qual can be close especially on a lala track like this, but its in race trim mclaren will show its strong performance with all Marshalls input now incorporated for this year

I'm still not prepared to fully release my optimism, but it's building.

Everything may change by the time of qualification.

Yes, no questions. I also noticed that in the second practice session, Lando's car has a rear wing of the same specification as Oscar's in the first practice session. That is, they added a little downforce. It seems like they are promising warmer weather on Saturday. This will affect the grip. And they are predicting rain for the race. In general, I think this is the right option. Additional grip in the rear will not be superfluous.

[BMMR61]

With the near certainty of serious rain on Sunday the qualifying order will not be an accurate guide to pace. Like at Spa 2024, McLaren will likely qualify with excess downforce which could see them miss out on the front row. From behind at the start it will be an effort to get the result they are looking for. Waiting to see how this ages!

[Ben1980]

It seems we have a good car, which is better than recent years for the start.

Not quite seeing it as clear fastest as many claimed. Looks like it will be tight.

I still see Max as overall favourite, I just can't shake that off.

[mwillems]

It does look tight, at least in Q. Everything is still unknown as far as I'm concerned, but I'm confident we can fight for pole.

My suspicion is also that it is tight and that the drivers will help decide it.

In the race, who knows. Our belief in race pace comes largely from one long run in Bahrain.

That's not quite enough for me to hang my hat on yet.

Any long run data from Melbourne?

[MrGapes]

It does look tight, at least in Q. Everything is still unknown as far as I'm concerned, but I'm confident we can fight for pole.

My suspicion is also that it is tight and that the drivers will help decide it.

In the race, who knows. Our belief in race pace comes largely from one long run in Bahrain.

That's not quite enough for me to hang my hat on yet.

Any long run data from Melbourne?

Both Oscar and Lando switched to the higher df wing, which I think overall might be the slower wing in the dry, but probably the right decision considering Sunday forecast.

The race sims all look tight, Lando had the lowest average, which is surprising considering he spent the entire following Antonelli... But I really don't know how much that matters in terms of race day considering the weather.

[_cerber1]

[mwillems]

Similar to Ferrari on older tyres. George looks fast.

[deadhead]

Similar to Ferrari on older tyres. George looks fast.

Conflicting info on tire age… I read somewhere that the sf25 was on older tires

[FittingMechanics]

Lando was right behind Antonelli for most of his sim. Matching his pace and at the end he overtook him. Leclerc was behind Verstappen for a part of it, but VER was on a slightly different programme and his laptimes were worse (so LEC got outliers). About the soft tyre run, I haven't been able to follow super closely but from what I could tell, it looked like McLaren had couple of aborted/bad laps before they nailed the lap. Ferrari seemed to make their first lap work so I'd say there is some margin there.

Similar to Ferrari on older tyres. George looks fast.

George was on hards and probably on a different plan (Norris easily matched Antonelli).

To my eye it looked like McLaren > Ferrari > Mercedes > Red Bull.

[Emag]

Similar to Ferrari on older tyres. George looks fast.

Conflicting info on tire age… I read somewhere that the sf25 was on older tires

Yes I am unsure at the moment if its a data glitch on the Ferrari or other people miss-reporting assuming Ferrari used the tires that they run earlier on the session and counting those laps to give the tire age.

The data shows the correct tire age for previous stints though, so it’s kind of weird to mess up only on the one stint.

[mwillems]

If George was setting those times on hards, it's worth noting.

But, its too early to tell. Time and again FP2 has not been a reliable indicator.

Still I take nothing for granted. I really think it's tight. I won't rule out any team.

[Emag]

If George was setting those times on hards, it's worth noting.

But, its too early to tell. Time and again FP2 has not been a reliable indicator.

Still I take nothing for granted. I really think it's tight.

Yes, George was on the hards, but the hard is a much better race tire at 40 degree track temps. You can’t compare Mercedes directly with the other teams unfortunately, so we don’t really know what to expect from them. Wont get answers this sunday either with the expected rain, but at least we get a somewhat representative quali tomorrow.