2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

Oscar has to sit down and find out what's wrong cause this year he seems deflated.

Is something "wrong"? 2025 now starts to look like outlier year just caused by Lando having difficulties at the start of the season with his steering system. 2026 is more in line with 2023, 2024, and 2nd half of 2025.

[Darth-Piekus]

I am not really sure if something is wrong. Do you think Oscar was overrated by the press and we see the real difference between the two drivers?

[venkyhere]

Norris can get pole. I am saying this after analyzing data from FP3.
Note : "can" , not "will/should".

Is pole calculated before or after the penalty?

I'm hesitant to get excited because McLaren this year tends to look better in practice.

You meant finish the session quickest
He can’t get pole with a 10 place grid drop

Almost came true, didn't it ? I will extend my prediction to :
McLaren (Norris) is going to spring a surprise tomorrow with far superior tyre deg than even Mercedes. But not sure that will be enough to win, but P3 is a possibility (provided Norris starts on H).

[venkyhere]

Lando performed like a champion today. A worthy third that he has goten on his own (which is 13th due to the penalty) against the rocketship of Mercedes and a driver that as I said in the past has two teams and 3 extra garages working for him. Good job to Mclaren.

Oscar has to sit down and find out what's wrong cause this year he seems deflated.

Yes, Lando drove well. Superbly, in fact.
No matter how much you vent your frustration, you can't circumvent the fact that Max is a superior driver than Norris. You dont have to bring Max into the conversation everytime you want to heap praises on Norris. Stop being petty.

[Ground Effect]

Maybe the upgraded car will be kinder to Oscar? But apart from Miami weekend, this is the biggest qualifying gap he's had to Lando. He's definitely not miles off. Maybe not fighting for wins after last year and a bit of 2024 has left him lacking a bit of motivation?

[Darth-Piekus]

Yes, Lando drove well. Superbly, in fact.
No matter how much you vent your frustration, you can't circumvent the fact that Max is a superior driver than Norris. You dont have to bring Max into the conversation everytime you want to heap praises on Norris. Stop being petty.

Remains to be seen. I'll form my final judgment once I see them both at McLaren on equal status. Until then, my opinion remains unchanged.

[Macklaren]

Maybe the upgraded car will be kinder to Oscar? But apart from Miami weekend, this is the biggest qualifying gap he's had to Lando. He's definitely not miles off. Maybe not fighting for wins after last year and a bit of 2024 has left him lacking a bit of motivation?

Not sure what more motivation an F1 driver needs than to try to prove his critics wrong when he has access to the same equipment

[CjC]

Norris can get pole. I am saying this after analyzing data from FP3.
Note : "can" , not "will/should".

Is pole calculated before or after the penalty?

I'm hesitant to get excited because McLaren this year tends to look better in practice.

You meant finish the session quickest
He can’t get pole with a 10 place grid drop

Almost came true, didn't it ? I will extend my prediction to :
McLaren (Norris) is going to spring a surprise tomorrow with far superior tyre deg than even Mercedes. But not sure that will be enough to win, but P3 is a possibility (provided Norris starts on H).

So close! How much I’d have liked you to be spot on- tell you what- let’s hope your are right about his race pace- I can live with that

[CjC]

Lando is driving really well at the moment.
This is the third rule cycle now in his career and in all 3 changes he has faired extremely well against his team-mates.

[AR3-GP]

Stella said that maybe Piastri had a PU issue in qualifying

For Oscar, he maximised what he could after his running across the weekend had been limited, and he did a good job to progressively reduce the gap to Lando. He would have been closer if it wasn’t for some PU under exploitation we are trying to understand.

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