2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

Landos issue throught his career has been around pushing beyond his limits, which us a good thing, but littered with consequences going beyond what he or the car are capable of.

I dont think there has ever been a time hes sat back. But that wasn't the question being asked.

The question was whether Lando could use this as an opportunity to deliver some top performances now hes the underdog. Which he will, he was only getting stronger before the break.

The issue is that if he closes the gap, he will not be able to avoid the crunch time, and he'll have the same questions to answer.

[CjC]

Unfortunately it sounds like there is the possibility of slipstreaming shenanigans again

If so, my bet is the Mclarens will just go out on track to get their laps in, in Q3 (if they both get there) low less and will probably be beaten to pole by someone with a slipstream

[mwillems]

Its a straight race between Iscar and Lando in the championship, Oscar just needs to be ahead of Lando, but Lando needs the win.

No doubt Max will have a good run at pole and the support of Yuki on the straight.

[Balalu]

It will take a miracle for us to take pole today. Obviously we can't use either driver for pulling/slipstreaming.

[CjC]

Yea I’ll be amazed if Mclaren score a pole today

[mwillems]

It's so close, dont rule anything out. Three tea.s are in with a decent shout.

[Ben1980]

It was close.

Great comeback from Lando.

[CjC]

Better than I expected to be honest

[BMMR61]

Yeah I don't see how McLaren can succeed with such a high drag setup. Even the low deg Saubers were incredibly effective. It's going to be a real struggle in the race with those speed deficiencies.

[Avocado]

I believe we will win.

[geogate]

think that went pretty well. Lando with higher downforce could be well placed. Can Max one stop? donno, but it looked on paper one of our weaker tracks so i will take 2/3

[mwillems]

Its pretty close but we'll likely have the best race pace and the ability to follow, so if we dont get past at the start then we should get opportunities.

Oscar will only want to be in Front of Lando and the team won't stop the fight, so if Oscar can mount a fight against Lando then Max may get the opportunity to pull away, I think.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, but the priority for Mclaren is the drivers fight, not the win.

Hopefully we get to see a nice fight between the drivers, whether it is for first or second.

[Emag]

Unless there’s a significant difference in deg or somehow Max gets a bad start (wouldn’t count on this), this race is already decided. Monza is like Baku when it comes to overtaking. You need significant pace advantage and McLaren doesn’t have that here. Could be interesting strategy-wise though. Leclerc’s win last year was a suprise too.

[CjC]

Honestly this is one of/ if not the most informative piece I’ve read this season.
They’ve explained in some detail (no doubt with some engineers help) the performance swing between McLaren and Red Bull, particularly this weekend at Monza.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what ... -at-monza/

I have to note, I know why the Mclaren wasn’t as strong as recent in races here, I even predicted in the run up Verstappen to challenge for pole and the win. I’ve shared the piece because (as a journalist should) it was been explained far better than a lay man like me could ever do

[mwillems]

I can't imagine deg will affect Max so much in this race, only that it won't affect Mclaren so much in terms of being able to follow and try to pressure a mistake. Especially with the track surface and the improved downforce of these cars.

But I don't think it's decided either, there's always the chance for mistakes, incidents and strategy to mix things up, though a genuine on track overtake after the race start seems less likely, but at the same time, I can't see Max getting much of a gap unless Lando and Oscar are scrapping. So I think there will be plenty of on track pressure either between our guys or against Max, and I feel optimistic we can get a win or at least see some good racing.