2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

It's Max's perogative to stay ahead. He maybe felt that on turn 1 he had every right to be there. He wasn't that far off. I'm not sure hewould have had to go.off track.if Oscar left toom, but of course Oscar rightly recognised it was his corner and line and bullied Max off it.

Since the battles with Lando and Max, they tightened up the application of the rules on overtakes and as long as they continue to apply it consistently then we can take advantage ourselves if the opportunity arises.

I'm happy that turn 1 advantages are punished less, we don't want them to stop trying.

Going logically, if Piastri on a tighter line managed to make the corner then Max would as well on a wider one. They were both at same speed and with same braking level. That is true.

I think the solution for car on the outside to not yield. If the car stays on the outside and inside car crashes into him, the situation would be clear as day.

Yeah I think he was OK for speed. They say he brakes late to get to the apex first, but on this instance it wasn't so fast he couldn't keep it on track.

If he sent it in and could never make the turn, that's different.

[BMMR61]

It's Max's perogative to stay ahead. He maybe felt that on turn 1 he had every right to be there. He wasn't that far off. I'm not sure hewould have had to go.off track.if Oscar left toom, but of course Oscar rightly recognised it was his corner and line and bullied Max off it.

Since the battles with Lando and Max, they tightened up the application of the rules on overtakes and as long as they continue to apply it consistently then we can take advantage ourselves if the opportunity arises.

I'm happy that turn 1 advantages are punished less, we don't want them to stop trying.

Going logically, if Piastri on a tighter line managed to make the corner then Max would as well on a wider one. They were both at same speed and with same braking level. That is true.

I think the solution for car on the outside to not yield. If the car stays on the outside and inside car crashes into him, the situation would be clear as day.

Good point about the wider line (opening the corner) but it's clear from both onboards that Max reduced the braking force entering the corner. This was noted by the stewards, effectively they are seeing Max marginally retaking the lead by this but being unlikely to make the corner (even if you could spirit Oscar away). To complete it Oscar managed to just make the corner within track limits. Max did what Lando got penalised for last year (Texas I think) when he bailed out quite early and completed the pass off track. The rules were applied consistently. Quite the surgeon, Oscar effectively outmaxed Max. We would say he was "hoisted on his own petard". The whole episode is great for F1, the fans, it makes for lots of clicks etc etc and McLaren come out looking just fine. Max and Red Bull - well their reputations probably haven't suffered significantly because this kind of thing is their playbook. Play is the operative word because Horner loves to play the victim unfairly treated - we're laughing!

[Darth-Piekus]

Have in mind guys that if there was a sand trap there then Max sould never have goten with that speed on that turn and would have probably braked earlier to at least be second.

[AR3-GP]

During the FIA post-race conference Piastri was asked if he agreed with Norris regarding Max Verstappen's alleged pace superiority.
He said. "No. I think our car was still quicker."
Having said that, he was however surprised by the Dutchman's speed in the RB21. "I think it was difficult to be in dirty air. Max was quicker than I expected for sure in the race. I thought over one lap it wasn't a huge surprise to see Max quick, but in the race, I wasn't expecting to struggle so much at the end of the Medium stint."
However, Piastri and Norris did find some common ground in the end, as they both urged McLaren to keep pressing on in making the MCL39 quicker, with the caveat that McLaren, in his view, still posses the quicker car at the moment.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/was-vers ... i-disagree

[AR3-GP]

Asked by The Race if the trend McLaren is observing with Norris's Q3 struggles is a broad one of small imprecisions in different ways, or if something specific is connecting them, Stella said: "The car has a certain envelope of performance. But the way you exploit this envelope is a little tricky for our drivers.

"There's a lot of grip, there's a lot of grip, [then] grip disappears. You go 1km/h faster and the grip disappears.

"This transition seems to be quite sharp, and the feedback you receive from the car in terms of understanding and leaning on this limit is relatively numb.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mcla ... ing-wrong/

[BMMR61]

Asked by The Race if the trend McLaren is observing with Norris's Q3 struggles is a broad one of small imprecisions in different ways, or if something specific is connecting them, Stella said: "The car has a certain envelope of performance. But the way you exploit this envelope is a little tricky for our drivers.

"There's a lot of grip, there's a lot of grip, [then] grip disappears. You go 1km/h faster and the grip disappears.

"This transition seems to be quite sharp, and the feedback you receive from the car in terms of understanding and leaning on this limit is relatively numb.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mcla ... ing-wrong/

I think this talks implicitly about the MCL39 which lends weight to Lando's concerns with not feeling comfortable in the new car. While I find the stuff with Stella refreshingly honest, is it a good idea to speak publicly so explicitly? I guess the other teams have enough data to know or at least deduce anyway. Does this reveal that Oscar's uptick in relative speed is less to do with it being Lando less suited/Oscar more suited, but rather he's just worked hard on ironing out his performance deficits?

With all the assumptions made after 5/24 races I don't think this small sample means what so many are saying about Lando. I'm sure he will come back strong, even if some of the tendency to unforced errors will pop up. There were enough of them scattered through previous seasons to say this is likely to reoccur at times. I'm hoping he will put up a stout title fight as he has earned a shot of it after all these years.

[AR3-GP]

“People keep saying that we’re the best, we’re the quickest, blah, blah, blah.

“But it’s just because we show a bit more pace in practice and then we don’t have anything left when it gets to qualifying, but that’s our way of doing things.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... -mode-crap

[ringo]

Oscar totally owned the line at the first corner and showed no fear of Max in the line to turn 2, with Max being the dtiver who had to bail.

That was a strong ballsy move.

It's exactly the type of move to take away that "let me go or we crash". Max knows both Norris and Piastri can be WDC this year. Crashing with either one would increase the gap to the other one.

To be fair, if we look at it in isolation, if Max held it on the track on outside and they had a crash, Piastri would be at fault as he was the car overtaking. But Max can't do that because he will lose points to Lando. So he abuses the penalty system and clear air to get the best for him. So let's use that against Max, fight him hard willing to crash so he can't abuse the system as he usually tries.

What annoys me is that both Max and Horner know they did it on purpose. They know that by keeping the clear air they gained more than they lost with the penalty but they are faking outrage.

Piastri is not the car overtaking. It would be Max. Remember they're both starting from a standstill. Piastri got the better start and his car was never ever behind Max's. The grid has both cars side by side with P1 marginally ahead.
Piastri passed on the launch and Max then tries to retake the position.
So no Piastri would not be at fault for a crash caused by Max.

[mwillems]

“People keep saying that we’re the best, we’re the quickest, blah, blah, blah.

“But it’s just because we show a bit more pace in practice and then we don’t have anything left when it gets to qualifying, but that’s our way of doing things.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... -mode-crap

It is the best car, but this is the point I've been making, even to the point of building charts to show how we have much less improvememt from Friday to Saturday and that it has to be hot for the Mclaren to get its advantage.

As I said earlier, when the narrative evaporates the performance of the other cars, particularly the RB, will become clear.

And the start yesterday was a mistake from Max. It was his race to lose.

[mwillems]

Zak saying teams are one moderate upgrade from being ahead of us, my point when trying to explain this car isn't dominant.

“I think everyone else is trying to apply a little bit of pressure, saying we’re far up the road to set us up for ‘if you don’t win, what went wrong?’, so we’re not kind of falling for that. We know how close it is.


It’s clear any of these top four teams are a front wing or a floor away from an upgrade to go, ‘those are the ones we now need to chase’. I do think the warmer weather plays to our strengths a bit, so I think that’s why we were maybe a bit quicker in the day in Saudi and Bahrain. I hope that theory is right because I think it’s going to be hot in Miami.”

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... z8nKeGs7yk

[Farnborough]

Definitely at the most competent technical level of the whole field, this MCL 39 ... atvthe moment.

Dominant though ? that's too easily applied in this age of communication, often without sufficient real data to make uncontested sense.

Also takes application to exert that performance, which can really only be viewed and consolidated later in a season like this.

Oscar absolutely aced that start though, putting the question to Max to answer. Very well executed by OP.

The debate about tight shicane etiquette will never be answered though as it just forces contention, then examination of the words within the rules. They keep changing word, sentiment, outlook, penalty etc, all to no conclusive effect. Each side of allegiance will argue their case.
Tracks with these tight arrangement are designed to do just that, its no surprise.

[Waz]

It's comfortably the best car and has 4 wins from 5. The margin from best to worst is tight , so it doesn't appear dominant as others.

I also finding the story around Lando's struggling to be a shifting goal post. First it was brakes, then turn in and now it's something different. Sounds like molly coddling again. Lando's Q3 mistake was nothing to do with unpredictable level of grip. It was pure driver error over the kerb.

[AR3-GP]

As I said earlier, when the narrative evaporates the performance of the other cars, particularly the RB, will become clear.

F1 teams don't stand still so you can't use the future to rewrite the past. Red Bull may get closer to Mclaren for any number of logical reasons like upgrades. That doesn't mean they were close in the past. In Jeddah, they introduced some upgrades and even Piastri admitted that Red Bull's pace was unexpected and too close for comfort. That doesn't mean they were close all along as Norris tries to portray. It's a bit worrying that someone would need to explain this to Norris...

Also, in case I have ever stated that Mclaren are dominant, I have never claimed that they will continue to be dominant. I cannot see the future.

[mwillems]

As I said earlier, when the narrative evaporates the performance of the other cars, particularly the RB, will become clear.

F1 teams don't stand still so you can't use the future to rewrite the past. Red Bull may get closer to Mclaren for any number of logical reasons like upgrades. That doesn't mean they were close in the past. In Jeddah, they introduced some upgrades and even Piastri admitted that Red Bull's pace was unexpected and too close for comfort. That doesn't mean they were close all along as Norris tries to portray. It's a bit worrying that someone would need to explain this to Norris...

Also, in case I have ever stated that Mclaren are dominant, I have never claimed that they will continue to be dominant. I cannot see the future.

The present explains it well enough, my point is that as time goes on you can't ignore reality. The Red Bull was fast from the start, it was clear that it had some flaws but that it was going to be a challenger. Bahrain doesn't make it a bad car. It was clear that others could be very close to Mclaren, including Merc on occassion, though their peak pace is showing less often.

I'm not saying you will see the future, just that you have a skewed look at the past, including focussing only on one drivers mistakes and ignoring that they all do it and ignoring the actual pace of other cars

5 Races in we have been outright fastest in China and Bahrain, everywhere else we have had to fight for it. So I would agree that the car can be dominant in the right conditions. But this isn't that common.

[AR3-GP]

As I said earlier, when the narrative evaporates the performance of the other cars, particularly the RB, will become clear.

F1 teams don't stand still so you can't use the future to rewrite the past. Red Bull may get closer to Mclaren for any number of logical reasons like upgrades. That doesn't mean they were close in the past. In Jeddah, they introduced some upgrades and even Piastri admitted that Red Bull's pace was unexpected and too close for comfort. That doesn't mean they were close all along as Norris tries to portray. It's a bit worrying that someone would need to explain this to Norris...

Also, in case I have ever stated that Mclaren are dominant, I have never claimed that they will continue to be dominant. I cannot see the future.

The present explains it well enough, my point is that as time goes on you can't ignore reality.

The present only explains a moment in time. What you are trying to imply is that Red Bulls increasing competitiveness due to upgrades means that we’re were somehow ignoring that they were competitive all along. That’s not how it works. I wouldn’t argue that Mclaren was competitive before Miami simply because they were competitive in nearly every race after Miami. For all we know Red Bull could go backwards in Imola! That doesn’t mean they weren’t competitive in Saudi Arabia. As I said before, it’s a moving picture.