2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Szabi1112]

McLaren didn’t want to sacrifice Lando in a double stack with the pits full

Actually Piastri had 4s advantage to Lando if Im not mistaken. It’s enought to a double stack.

[SilviuAgo]

And off-topic but related to McLaren, I want to highlight once again the low character of Lambiase, proven by the way he informed Max about how Antonelli supposedly moved out of Lando’s way. And then we wonder why there is so much hate between F1 fans, and why fights in the stands are becoming more and more frequent.
I hope Mercedes takes a stand and condemns such behavior that has nothing to do with reality! Shame on Red Bull! Shame on you, Mr. Lambiase!

[mwillems]

McLaren didn’t want to sacrifice Lando in a double stack with the pits full

Actually Piastri had 4s advantage to Lando if Im not mistaken. It’s enought to a double stack.

It is, but there was a possible danger of having to wait to be released as others came in i felt. Still, it was quicker than losing 18s lol

[f1isgood]

And off-topic but related to McLaren, I want to highlight once again the low character of Lambiase, proven by the way he informed Max about how Antonelli supposedly moved out of Lando’s way. And then we wonder why there is so much hate between F1 fans, and why fights in the stands are becoming more and more frequent.
I hope Mercedes takes a stand and condemns such behavior that has nothing to do with reality! Shame on Red Bull! Shame on you, Mr. Lambiase!

[venkyhere]

I knew this thread will be like a live grenade has been thrown into an elevator. The team is inventing ways to screw their drivers, it's almost as if they intentionally don't want to win WDC and WCC is more than enough. They expected the 10s or so 'free pitstop gain' by Verstappen to vanish with their race pace delta. Unfortunately, Verstappen matched them and his pace scared them into making another mistake with the H choice. ON BOTH CARS. Just extend the M for 2-3 laps and go for S. Everything good or bad, ON BOTH CARS, always.

However, the final takeaway for me is - "Antonelli's mistake is the soothing balm on the wound called 'WDC challenge' that Mclaren has imposed on their drivers"

[Ben1980]

I can sort of see why not stopping Piastri, he was first and it was the earliest opportunity to stop. Maybe questions can be asked.

But as soon as you see Max go in, its a no trainer to follow Lando. Especially when he's 22 points clear.

Your pretty much guaranteeing him 3rd but, thats fine.

[selvam_e2002]

I don't think Antonelli's did a mistake deliberately. then what we call for the Tsunoda, Lawson, Hadjur are easy giving way for Max in other races. I can give lots of example for RB cases... Tsudona released unsafely with tyre issue in one of the race to help Max. and so on.....

please be remember that, whenever a team or drive agains RB, you are always 2:4 not 2:2..... i.e. Mclaren need to fight Rb and its sister team.....

Let see in Abudhabi Race how we are performing...... Luckily we did the strategic mistake in Qatar instead of in AbuDhabi. They will recover from it. it is not like 2010. Still they have time to recover.

[FittingMechanics]

I can sort of see why not stopping Piastri, he was first and it was the earliest opportunity to stop. Maybe questions can be asked.

But as soon as you see Max go in, its a no trainer to follow Lando. Especially when he's 22 points clear.

Your pretty much guaranteeing him 3rd but, thats fine.

Honestly I think Piastri is the easier call, he won't be stuck until released, he had gap to stay ahead of VER and could conservatively run to the end.

NOR is a harder call, he did not have a big gap behind and may have ended up losing multiple positions while staying on same strategy as everyone else.

One of problems of their call was that it seems that a hard was the better race tire. As fast as a medium but more durable with less graining. So their second stint that should have secured P2-P3 was losing to the hard runners. This forced an early switch to hards and caused the whole problem.

If they were on hards in the middle stint they could extend and finish on softs (or mediums) with no risk from SAI and ANT. Then it is a straight fight in the last stint.

Multiple mistakes by the team.

[Darth-Piekus]

I don't think Antonelli's did a mistake deliberately. then what we call for the Tsunoda, Lawson, Hadjur are easy giving way for Max in other races. I can give lots of example for RB cases... Tsudona released unsafely with tyre issue in one of the race to help Max. and so on.....

please be remember that, whenever a team or drive agains RB, you are always 2:4 not 2:2..... i.e. Mclaren need to fight Rb and its sister team.....

Let see in Abudhabi Race how we are performing...... Luckily we did the strategic mistake in Qatar instead of in AbuDhabi. They will recover from it. it is not like 2010. Still they have time to recover.

At this point I've lost all respect for my team. They have giving a championship to a driver that shouldn't be able to get it. Every Mclaren driver has lost more than 60 points from mistakes of the team. It's like the whole thing is fixed from under the table.

I want Ron Dennis back. Not these novices.

[venkyhere]

9 other teams understood simple logic - in a track which is difficult to pass because of the small straight , whichever way you dice it, it's better to save 12s of race time, by having a 'free' pitstop, WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO EXACTLY MATCHES THE TYRE LIFE RESTRICTION. The only reason they can come up with is "we didn't think Max/RB21 would be as fast". I actually think (might be wrong, haven't checked data) that tyre management was far superior by Max, because he exactly knew how many laps to run on each tyre. Piastri was never more than ~8-9s ahead, throughout the race, despite all the 'pushing' by Mclaren.

[Xaniesta]

Since last few races everything is in Landos hands and WDC depends on him. And then McLaren steps into the story.

Not sure if someone mentioned it here already. McLaren had option to choose where they want to have garage (first or last in pit lane)? Knowing that all need to pit latest at lap 25, you could expect lot of cars in pit lane and having garage at the beginning of the pit lane was mistake.

[GrizzleBoy]

Gaaaaah, look at that.

Oscar finally remembered how to drive fast just two races from the end of the season after running away with it for the first half, but then forgot. Because that's definitely a thing. Forgetting how to make a car that's felt like an extension of your body for 6 months compete for podiums at the very least.

And then his team makes a decision that essentially negates his momentum completely, because they didnt want to risk their other driver suffering from a double stack hold up when hes a race away from the WDC

And now their other driver is basically locked in for the WDC and Oscar has no realistic chance.

Gaaaaah. Look at that.

How were Macca to know that a free stop on exactly the lap they'd have need to stop for the mandatory 2 stop strategy was the winning strategy.

So unlucky.

Could've happened to anybody.

[Gillian]

Since last few races everything is in Landos hands and WDC depends on him. And then McLaren steps into the story.

Not sure if someone mentioned it here already. McLaren had option to choose where they want to have garage (first or last in pit lane)? Knowing that all need to pit latest at lap 25, you could expect lot of cars in pit lane and having garage at the beginning of the pit lane was mistake.

Well Norris could have boxed with Verstappen, or gotten pole like Piastri did or driven faster during the race like Piastri did or... Not pitting was dumb, but Piastri still got P2 so Norris could have done that as well.

[Badger]

Blame the team all you want but there is no good excuse why Lando isn't standing on the podium today. Oscar beat Sainz and Antonelli by a mile even with the sub-optimal strategy. Lando finished behind a Williams in a car that was probably 7+ tenths a lap faster. He would have finished P5 without a bit of luck too. He didn't have good pace.

[AR3-GP]

Piastri will sit out FP1 in Abu Dhabi for a rookie.