2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Watto]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

I think what had come out of this is if you were someone close to Lando and his camp you'd say ignore what is best for Oscar. Only do what is best for you first....yes if you doing something has absolutely no flow on effects then help but it always put them where it risked Oscar underrating .


I'm not convinced if roles were referred Oscar would put himself in the position to be undercut even if the team promised there would be none.

They work well together but I think there needs to be a point Lando cares about himself only. Ask Max, or Lewis , or Shumi if they would put themselves in that position and not a chance - more I think if there was a chance they could close the gap to their main rival/team mate and having the chance CL undercut you take it.

But once they assured Lando there would be no undercut or he would pit first then they had to get them to swap when in any other circumstance (a bad pit stop) its you cop it as part of racing

[Ben1980]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

Nothing wrong with hope or luck, though can work both ways.

I don't recall any critisiscm on Max in Monaco who tried the exact same game.

Though luck worked in Miami last year for Lando and the safety car and again Max in Brazil with a red flag. It happens.

The plan was fine, the issue with the gun was unfortunate, without it, its not really a story.

Correcting it was fine.

[CjC]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

Nothing wrong with hope or luck, though can work both ways.

I don't recall any critisiscm on Max in Monaco who tried the exact same game.

Though luck worked in Miami last year for Lando and the safety car and again Max in Brazil with a red flag. It happens.

The plan was fine, the issue with the gun was unfortunate, without it, its not really a story.

Correcting it was fine.

Max the immortal is allowed act like that though

However, neither McLaren driver is allowed to, mainly due to the fact that they only drive for the midfield team which is McLaren

[FittingMechanics]

I'm amazed that people completely misunderstand the whole situation.

...It was because Norris accepted to pit second (so Oscar is protected) with the understanding that Oscar will not undercut him. ...

All-risks insurance. You go first, I get the spot, whatever happens

Well that is the nature of being the first car, you get priority. Piastri got his victory in Hungary 2024 because of the same thing.

[bauc]

The past weekend we had unnecessary drama, so Im glad we are done with it, also... our car ''does not like'' Monza 2nd year in a row

[FittingMechanics]

I'm not sure if we all saw the same race but when PIA emerged from his stop, LEC was only a few car lengths behind him. McL rolled the SC gambit and that meant a huge gap to VER and LEC closing in. Otherwise they could have pulled a Max in Monaco and waited for the SC until the last lap

I thought the tactic of McLaren was fine, they did what they had to do in order to hope to win with , for once, a slower car compared to Max's RB. The safety car was their only hope. Maybe they could have tried to split the strategy to monitor if the soft were working well sooner but the other driver would have screamed foul since they are mainly competing against each other.

Even when Max was quickly back within the SC window, I understood why they waited, even if they would have lost positions, they would have soft tyres behind Max for a restart. They had to try and they gave up when Leclerc started to become a threat.

I also have no problems with the decision to swap the drivers. They took a risk for the victory, it did not work, they had to protect Piastri from Leclerc and Norris suffered for this, they had to repair that in order to be fair. You can call that micromanaging but at the end it's fair. I say that as an outside as I am not a fan of Mclaren. They did nothing wrong, they were just slower for once.

I fully agree. In fact, this is one of the races where I don't have a complaint about strategy. What they did was probably the best and gave them a decent chance to challenge for the win. If I want to nitpick, if the drivers were robots I would probably split the strategies just in case. One car goes long for soft and the other goes early for a hard. But with the drivers fighting each other, it is usually not realistic that they will split the strategies.

In fact, it is likely that Piastri will be the more cautious one. For him finishing one spot behind Norris is a perfectly fine strategy. Norris might be willing to take a gamble because he needs to cut the gap. But in this race, Norris was ahead so it's unlikely we see "Hail Mary" strategy from Oscar when just one position behind Norris (and losing just 3 points).

[mwillems]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

Right. But the point I made earlier is that this “corner” is entirely fan manufactured outside the team—and even outside the paddock and most journos. Its your corner.

Aside from one heat-of-the-moment comment from Oscar—which disappeared as quickly as it came—there was no issue.

When you strip back all the noise, the argument here boils down to:
If there’s drama to be made, they must have got it wrong.

Because there was no actual problem, the issue being raised is actually around the optics of the swap.

Mclaren would really have to be daft if they factor optics into strategy.

Some use that as a platform to show authority or gravitas in the thread. But the reality is, the team doesn’t care about that noise—because it has no bearing on their decision-making, nor should they.

[FittingMechanics]

I feel that a big reason for the outrage is that it shows you don't have to be a ruthless assh**e to become a champion in F1. McLaren seems to be doing quite fine with two "number 1" drivers who are treated equally.

It is one thing I liked about McLaren historically even though it hurt them at times.

[Emag]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

Nothing wrong with hope or luck, though can work both ways.

I don't recall any critisiscm on Max in Monaco who tried the exact same game.

Though luck worked in Miami last year for Lando and the safety car and again Max in Brazil with a red flag. It happens.

The plan was fine, the issue with the gun was unfortunate, without it, its not really a story.

Correcting it was fine.

Totally not comparable. First because Monaco is Monaco. But secondly, because Max had absolutely nothing to lose. He had a guaranteed 4th either way.

[basti313]

So, doing what they did, was understandable.

Yes. Under the point "we do not race" everything is understandable. I am not criticizing their race tactics. I am criticizing their overall strategy of not racing. Neither between their two cars nor Verstappen.

In Monaco when Max hung it out to the last lap, it was tge correct strategy and only way to win the race.

Sorry, but this comparison is nonsense. Verstappen in Monaco was simply nowhere and went for the moonshot. Here it was a different game. They had the chance to put pressure on Verstappen with a split strategy and opted out from racing, just bet on a unlikely moonshot for both.
Might be cool for some here, I do not think quitting racing is cool. The issue for me is not even this race, the setup was anyways dull with the too hard tires. The issue is the remainder of this season. Given that RedBull will suffer in Spore, McLaren will likely clinch both titles in Mexico. Will be an emotional season final...I wonder if we even see Champaign or just Landos mom clapping.

[Ben1980]

Shining the turd isn't going to work. I'm as much the defender of McLaren as nearly everyone but the strategy team really put themselves in this corner. As others have said, they let this "extending" go on too far - all in the name of "hope". Hope had long galloped away at 1+ seconds per lap, both to Max, and to Charles. Lando's reported offering of first stop to Oscar shouldn't have been considered, just stick with the universally accepted way of doing it and TELL Lando "BOX!"

The MCL39 was, as I predicted through qualifying, not as suited to Monza's layout, and as the race played out, very very kind to the tyres, negating that other advantage McLaren have had. Everybody breathe in and consider it's more about the OPTICS. It's the optics that, while not everything, in this instance smelt pretty desperate and weak. To some it was interpreted (I think wrongly) as Lando being favoured unfairly. The whole thing was just as silly as Hungary last year and similar in setup (Randjip are you still there?) Lando now owes Oscar 3X in terms of how McLaren decisions seem to have favoured Lando in the last few races. I include the Q2 slipstream in this.

Nothing wrong with hope or luck, though can work both ways.

I don't recall any critisiscm on Max in Monaco who tried the exact same game.

Though luck worked in Miami last year for Lando and the safety car and again Max in Brazil with a red flag. It happens.

The plan was fine, the issue with the gun was unfortunate, without it, its not really a story.

Correcting it was fine.

Totally not comparable. First because Monaco is Monaco. But secondly, because Max had absolutely nothing to lose. He had a guaranteed 4th either way.

And the team had a guaranteed 2nd and 3rd. They were not losing those positions, and they werent overtaking on track, so hold on and hope is as good an option as any.

[Ben1980]

So, doing what they did, was understandable.

Yes. Under the point "we do not race" everything is understandable. I am not criticizing their race tactics. I am criticizing their overall strategy of not racing. Neither between their two cars nor Verstappen.

In Monaco when Max hung it out to the last lap, it was tge correct strategy and only way to win the race.

Sorry, but this comparison is nonsense. Verstappen in Monaco was simply nowhere and went for the moonshot. Here it was a different game. They had the chance to put pressure on Verstappen with a split strategy and opted out from racing, just bet on a unlikely moonshot for both.
Might be cool for some here, I do not think quitting racing is cool. The issue for me is not even this race, the setup was anyways dull with the too hard tires. The issue is the remainder of this season. Given that RedBull will suffer in Spore, McLaren will likely clinch both titles in Mexico. Will be an emotional season final...I wonder if we even see Champaign or just Landos mom clapping.

Sorry, at what point were they going to put pressure on Max. Near the end of the stint, Lando got to 5 seconds. So they werent undercutting. And the Red Bull was clearly faster, would have been faster on all tyres.

Splitting strategy would have been daft for either driver. If Oscar looks to stop, Lando would do it first. It was never happening.

I feel people live in a fantasy land of how they think things should be instead of looking at it in reality.

[basti313]

So, doing what they did, was understandable.

Yes. Under the point "we do not race" everything is understandable. I am not criticizing their race tactics. I am criticizing their overall strategy of not racing. Neither between their two cars nor Verstappen.

In Monaco when Max hung it out to the last lap, it was tge correct strategy and only way to win the race.

Sorry, but this comparison is nonsense. Verstappen in Monaco was simply nowhere and went for the moonshot. Here it was a different game. They had the chance to put pressure on Verstappen with a split strategy and opted out from racing, just bet on a unlikely moonshot for both.
Might be cool for some here, I do not think quitting racing is cool. The issue for me is not even this race, the setup was anyways dull with the too hard tires. The issue is the remainder of this season. Given that RedBull will suffer in Spore, McLaren will likely clinch both titles in Mexico. Will be an emotional season final...I wonder if we even see Champaign or just Landos mom clapping.

Sorry, at what point were they going to put pressure on Max. Near the end of the stint, Lando got to 5 seconds. So they werent undercutting. And the Red Bull was clearly faster, would have been faster on all tyres.

Splitting strategy would have been daft for either driver. If Oscar looks to stop, Lando would do it first. It was never happening.

I feel people live in a fantasy land of how they think things should be instead of looking at it in reality.

No. There was a clear opportunity to go for hards early. Lando had about 10 laps for the undercut and the hard tire was substantially faster on every car. Even Bortoletto could nearly match Verstappens pace on end of the med stint for Ver. Lando would have been easily faster forcing Ver to pit much earlier. That would have opened a much better chance for the soft strategy.

[Emag]

Some people here refuse to accept any criticism at all. It creates this fake atmosphere of sunflowers and daisies where everything feels calm and reserved just because, in the bigger picture, it does not matter much right now. McLaren are almost guaranteed both titles. But if you are looking at it objectively, you cannot only judge things through rose-tinted glasses. There is nothing wrong with pointing out weaknesses or missteps along the way. Constructive criticism is part of following the sport, and it does not mean you are being overly negative or dramatic. People should relax a bit and not take every comment as some harsh attack, because at the end of the day it is just discussing the sport we all enjoy.

It was not a catastrophic strategy, but it was not good either. The whole idea was shut down quickly by Max’s pace, and there was no real need to force it and create unnecessary risk.

However, moments like this matter because it shows that right now the pit wall is without question the weakest link in what is otherwise a really complete team. Since last year it has been clear that the strategy group is a step behind compared to how quickly the rest of the operation has developed. The car, the drivers, the pit crew, all of that is at a top level, while the decision-making on the wall still lags a bit. They are obviously aware of this and working to close the gap. Will Courtenay coming in next year is a sign they are investing in that area, and there are probably more behind-the-scenes adjustments happening at lower levels that we don't hear about.

That's the last thing I have to say on the topic. Looking forward to Baku. It should be slightly better for McLaren there but I expect a really strong RedBull again. It seems their last upgrade package has brought that car into a more comfortable window for Max, however one race is too small a sample to draw conclusions from. Singapore probably will be the "real" test.

[hollus]

Essentially you are suggesting with that split (@Basti) is pitting Lando early, so Max has to cover, resulting in Oscar benefitting.
Finish line is Oscar-Max-Lando.

I’d love to hear that radio call: Er, Lando, we have an opportunity here. We’ll put you in traffic and, if Red Bull reacts as we expect, you’ll be stuck behind Max all race anyways. You’ll lose 3 points and Oscar will win 10. You in?