2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mzso]

Paddock speculations that make their way to the media, and the drivers have been driving the new cars on the sim for a while now, so all the people who have merc engine already know if this specualaton is true or no, but at this point is just that, a speculation but it seems to be a recurring theme for the past month or two.

One thing is for sure, F1 doing a private test (no media allowed) In Jan is a red flag for me, I believe FIA knows that a lot of people are in trouble and they want to see how bad it is so they mitigate it before season start.

We are going off topic, so I would stop here.

No they don't! They don't have data on the competition's PUs.

Yeah. I hope there will be a lot of spy footage. But it will probably be pathetic.

[bauc]

A lof of ''behind the scenes'' moments in this one

[mzso]

Since they obviously desperately need him. I'm wondering exactly when Will Courtenay be able to join McLaren? Is it known?

[Seanspeed]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

[fourmula1]

Bahahahahaha.

Seanspeedsuperfastdriverkoolkid you are just trolling right…..

[megasyxx2]

Congrats and well done Lando! Next year, hopefully it will be Oscar the grouch's turn for a WDC

[Jdn1327]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

Let's not make a Max a god here please. He didn't have a midfield car by any means. He won 8 races this year...and he still lost the championship. Which shows how inconsistent he was throughout the year. And its easy to compete in a championship season when the entire team is built around you...and people's arrogance in this regard is laughable. Max did not have a slow car. But yeah...whatever helps you sleep at night dude.

[SmallSoldier]

Congratulations to both Lando and McLaren… What a season!

Both Titles and a history making year…

I guess at least the debate on whether Lando is championship material or not can be binned now

Looking forward to 2026… Let’s hope they keep the momentum going

What was said is that he won't ever be a great champion like some of the recent multiple WDCs. As someone else mentioned, he is a Jenson Button style driver. Very talented but not in the mix with the big boys. Maybe that will change, we will see.

He's had a good season though and he deserves it, but he sure as hell made it very difficult for himself at the start with a lack of adaptation, hitting Oscar and also the wall. Once the car was adapted for him, he really started to do well.

Moving the goal post a bit… So subjective when it comes to defining someone as a “Great Champion”… The reality is that most Champions, including those that you and many consider “Great” were so with the best car in the grid and that masks a lot of weaknesses and flaws… We’ve watch Lewis, one of the greatest in the sport, struggle more than anyone could imagine at Ferrari, similar with Vettel or even Schumacher during his 3 year stint with Mercedes and it will be interesting to see Verstappen next year if he doesn’t have a fast car, the car still matters… And I believe Lando actually had a great season, because in my opinion, the McLaren wasn’t as fast as everyone made it to be and the Red Bull wasn’t the tractor that RB fans and the media (for clicks and engagement) made it out to be.

Whether Lando will be considered in the same list as Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton, Verstappen… time will tell, nevertheless the fact is that he proved that you can show vulnerability (not just hide behind a mask in front of the media), be aware and openly discuss your struggles and still succeed… Good for him for doing so and in the way, showing that contrary to what most expected, he didn’t falter under pressure (and the end of the season was quiet the pressure cooker with a charging and in-form Max, DSQ’s and an ever shrinking point gap).

And regarding “adaptation”… Not sure where that is coming from, the car wasn’t allowing him to maximize it, apparently due to lack of feedback, but F1 has always showed that in order to be really fast, the driver has to trust the car and it’s hard to trust a car if the feedback isn’t there… Not really sure if that is a “driver” problem since once the team implemented fixes to bring that feeling back, he seemed to perform at his best, great for the team to acknowledge and implement the necessary changes.

Time to celebrate and enjoy something that hasn’t happen for almost 2 decades… First driver not in a Mercedes or a RedBull to win it too.

Happy holidays to everyone around here

[AR3-GP]

What was said is that he won't ever be a great champion like some of the recent multiple WDCs. As someone else mentioned, he is a Jenson Button style driver. Very talented but not in the mix with the big boys. Maybe that will change, we will see.

He's definitely had his moments I certainly wouldn't put him in the category of, or to Russell (ever).

That definitely just sounds like a personal grudge to be honest.

It's ironic finding myself in a position push back on this, but Lando Norris beat George Russell in the 2023 championship while driving a worse car. There are also arguments to be made that Lando's speed and tire management are superior to Russell. Lando also drove better in the last 6 races than Russell despite more pressure. So this claim of yours isn't the banked statement that you think it is imo. It deserves scrutiny. I personally think Russ is a tad overrated.

Also on the subject of ranking F1 WDCs, I think that discussion is a bit of forest from the trees. Lando Norris is the 35th (?) F1 WDC, ever. It's an exclusive club. There could be a ranking of WDCs, but it's only an academic exercise.

Now that Lando Norris is there, I hope that the defending champ does a good job of defending it next year where other champions are unable. We can't hand out WDCs willy nilly. It lowers the prestige. Better for the next championships to be shared amongst the existing champions than to have a run of randoms taking the trophy. The run of different champions from 2007 - 2010 was embarrassing. Passing around the title like a P word that can't be used here... When it happens like that, it's no longer a championship. It's a participation trophy.

[Darth-Piekus]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

You're the last person who should be talking about gifts mr.Masi 2021, Mr. budgetgate, Mr.Illegal car, Mr. I run with two teams and four kamikaze drivers. I can go on but its time to accept that the best driver and car usually win the title 99 percent of the time. Perhaps you want to cancel Damon Hill, Mika Hakinnen, Jaques Villeneuve, James Hunt, Alain Prost, Jody Scheckter, Alan Jones, Lewis Hamilton and many other drivers who struggled to take the title with a bigger difference despite having the better car or you should accept your loss with dignity and move on.

[the EDGE]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

I think you forget Max has never had to fight a team mate for WDC. We have to go back to 2016 for the last time this happened

Lando won this championship with 18 podiums… 7 wins, 8 seconds, & 3 thirds, and that could have have been 2 more seconds without the DNF & the DSQ which were both out of his control

A performance ANY champion would be proud of

[Darth-Piekus]

Indeed my friend. After all how many times in F1 history has someone taken the title by less than 10 points despite having the better car? Should we cancel every single one of them just because someone is salty his favorite driver did not get a 5th? That's the cycle of life and its the time of someone else to shine.

[geogate]

Some people seem to think their opinion is really, really important.

[sypack]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

Let's not make a Max a god here please. He didn't have a midfield car by any means. He won 8 races this year...and he still lost the championship. Which shows how inconsistent he was throughout the year. And its easy to compete in a championship season when the entire team is built around you...and people's arrogance in this regard is laughable. Max did not have a slow car. But yeah...whatever helps you sleep at night dude.

A guess we could say whatever helps you sleep at night.

[sypack]

Seanspeed you should just give a GG to Lando Norris and admit defeat with dignity instead of trying to undermine his success. Don't be a sore loser mate.

Max Verstappen was the driver of the year and it's not even close. The guy embarrassed the Mclaren duo who were in a dominant car over and over. Even Leclerc and Russell had more impressive overall seasons than Norris or Piastri, just in sheer consistency of great drives.

I'm not gonna give credit to a guy who was gifted the best car on the grid for the second year in the row and only BARELY won the championship after having a thoroughly mediocre year by any typical F1 season.

I think you forget Max has never had to fight a team mate for WDC. We have to go back to 2016 for the last time this happened

Lando won this championship with 18 podiums… 7 wins, 8 seconds, & 3 thirds, and that could have have been 2 more seconds without the DNF & the DSQ which were both out of his control

A performance ANY champion would be proud of

What could be the reason that Max did not have to fight a team mate ...