2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Emag]

If only Lando had lined up correctly, not received a 5 second penalty, he would have been able to show his true pace and finish P2 so Leclerc’s maximum potential this race was P3 not P2

5 second penalty, lost time with Lewis, had a lockup with Leclerc.

I mean everything adds up. Lost 2 laps because of his off-track overtake with Lewis.
Lost potentially 3-4 laps with that lockup with Leclerc.
Add to that the 5 second from the beginning, I mean, the fact he still finished P3 speaks volumes about the level of advantage McLaren had over everyone here.

Lando's drive was not worthy of a podium.

[CjC]

Yea without all that he should have finished well up the road a couple of seconds off Oscar.

All I was doing was just trying to shake off this back and forth about Leclerc’s P2 race pace.
According to fdatanalysis on Instagram Lando had the second best race pace on average and he spent the entire race sat in dirty air/ traffic

[SilviuAgo]

What a race we had! And another win for McLaren, double podium, fastest lap...all the ingredients )))
Supper happy with the outcome and try to take the positive from this race:
+ Oscar drove a fantastic race, no mistakes, starting P1, finishing P1, no panic, cool drive, very well manage the SC restart
+ Lando start was a stellar one. From P6 to P3 in couple of corners that is something to be proud off (nothing to do with the box positioning)
+McLaren pitwall managed the race with perfect execution, covering Lando's 5 sec penalty by pitting him early and bringing back the P3 spot and also with double stack at the SC moment;
+ team is extending the Constructors lead and now we have P1 and P2 in Drivers championship. Who remember last time we did this? To be 2007 whit Lewis and Fernando?
Also we saw that our rivals had some missery race with RedBull struggle to find pace and to do a nice pit stop, with Ferrari losing the momentum after they switch to the hard tyre, with Mercedes making a strategic error by pitting Kimi for those softs before SC etc.

On things to improve is on Lando side this time and see how hard is to cruise to the field. He had the pace but the dirty air made it harder and of course when you ar on the limit errors may appear.

Well done to McLaren and let's take the momentum to Saudi for another strong finish.

[FittingMechanics]

Looking back, this would have been an easy 1-2 if Norris made less mistakes and was more clinical. I still think he drove well but one less mistake and he takes 2nd.

1. No penalty at start allows him to undercut Russell
2. Better handling of restart against Ferraris (cost him 3 or so seconds and tire life)
3. Better move against LEC and RUS.

Leclerc was clearly P2 on pace here, it is not an easy 1-2 without the mistakes. Ferrari were targeting a M-M-S strategy and were forced onto a M-S-H by the safety car. If the safety car doesn't happen we probably get a Pia-Lec-Rus or Pia-Lec-Nor podium.

I really don't think Leclerc was a clear P2 on pace. Maybe I'd agree that Ferrari had ability to finish right behind McLarens but Leclerc was not faster than Piastri or Norris. As I've said, this would have been 1-2 if only one of issues for Norris didn't happen. In the first post I forgot about bad qualifying, so that is at least 4 different events that had to happen in order for him to finish P3.

Ferrari probably wanted to got M-H but when hards ended up being very bad, they switched to a M-M-S but this strategy would mean Leclerc has to fight through Norris once again as he would be undercut.

[De Wet]

Lando was terrible this weekend. Let's hope he comes back strong next weekend.

[mwillems]

I don't think I am.

Yes, the mediums were better, but the hards were definitely worse than both and suffered worse deg.

Remember that the safety car brought Norris closer to Leclerc and Russell, while forcing both to pit earlier than they would have done otherwise. If the third stint is any shorter, it becomes a really solid race tyre.

Norris was the primary beneficiary from the safety car. He ended up in a better position than he would have have otherwise, so I don't quite understand how you can believe that a shorter soft stint where Norris had a bigger gap to close would somehow put Russell and Leclerc in a worse position?

Norris also won't be overtaking Leclerc or Russell any faster if both are on softs and are able to defend better. At no point during the last stint was the hard ever better than the soft, so it takes even longer for Norris to clear Russell or Leclerc.

I definitely think you're looking at it with a tinted perspective. I didn't see the pace you think Leclerc had, especially on the second stint where he was pushing hard but couldn't get within DRS of Russell with newer tires.

Again, Leclerc said he was saving tyres behind Russell. His tyres had definitely lost some of their advantage, but he still had more pace in hand.

Either Norris undercuts both and Leclerc stretches the stint out longer and passes Norris again on fresher softs, maybe undercutting Russell in the process, or Norris stays out long enough that Leclerc manages to undercut Russell.

With Norris sitting like 2 seconds behind you can't even rule out that Leclerc manages to prevent an undercut with a strong in lap, given he still had pace in the mediums.

Either way Leclerc almost certainly finishes ahead of Norris and possibly ahead of Russell.

Russell had issues with electronics causing issues with gear changes amongst others, a broken DRS, significant time without brake by wire and it looks like his tyres went

Before that he was keeping in touch with Oscar, 7 seconds away at the safety car...

Leclerc had no chance against a healthy Merc. In fact it had no chance against a merc that had issues for a third of the race, as it still finished behind it!

The fact that he went onto the softs and had his issues is also the same reason the flattered the final distance from 1st to second because whilst being a clear second, he was for the main only a couple of tenths slower than Oscar.

Ferarri have been a clear third fastest car all weekend.

[SoulPancake13]

I definitely think you're looking at it with a tinted perspective. I didn't see the pace you think Leclerc had, especially on the second stint where he was pushing hard but couldn't get within DRS of Russell with newer tires.

Again, Leclerc said he was saving tyres behind Russell. His tyres had definitely lost some of their advantage, but he still had more pace in hand.

Either Norris undercuts both and Leclerc stretches the stint out longer and passes Norris again on fresher softs, maybe undercutting Russell in the process, or Norris stays out long enough that Leclerc manages to undercut Russell.

With Norris sitting like 2 seconds behind you can't even rule out that Leclerc manages to prevent an undercut with a strong in lap, given he still had pace in the mediums.

Either way Leclerc almost certainly finishes ahead of Norris and possibly ahead of Russell.

Russell had issues with gears, DRS and it looks like his tyres went. Before that he was keeping in touch with Oscar, 7 seconds away at the safety car. Leclerc had no chance against a healthy Merc. On fact it had no chance against a merc with issues.

The hards were an awful tyre here, it had less grip and worse deg than the softs - not really fair to compare that stint. I do think both Merc and McLaren were faster than Ferrari but Ferrari did pick an interesting strategy that got a bit shafted by SC. Charles said post race he was saving behind George to extend but we'll never know.

On an unrelated note, I am very intrigued to see how McLaren do next week. The circuit (theoretically) has everything it needs to make it a close fight between the top 4 - cool temps, smooth surface, lots of straights and medium/high speed corners make up a majority of the track. The team will need Norris to pick himself up, I think a bad qualy lap could put you down in 7th.

[mwillems]

Again, Leclerc said he was saving tyres behind Russell. His tyres had definitely lost some of their advantage, but he still had more pace in hand.

Either Norris undercuts both and Leclerc stretches the stint out longer and passes Norris again on fresher softs, maybe undercutting Russell in the process, or Norris stays out long enough that Leclerc manages to undercut Russell.

With Norris sitting like 2 seconds behind you can't even rule out that Leclerc manages to prevent an undercut with a strong in lap, given he still had pace in the mediums.

Either way Leclerc almost certainly finishes ahead of Norris and possibly ahead of Russell.

Russell had issues with gears, DRS and it looks like his tyres went. Before that he was keeping in touch with Oscar, 7 seconds away at the safety car. Leclerc had no chance against a healthy Merc. On fact it had no chance against a merc with issues.

The hards were an awful tyre here, it had less grip and worse deg than the softs - not really fair to compare that stint. I do think both Merc and McLaren were faster than Ferrari but Ferrari did pick an interesting strategy that got a bit shafted by SC. Charles said post race he was saving behind George to extend but we'll never know.

On an unrelated note, I am very intrigued to see how McLaren do next week. The circuit (theoretically) has everything it needs to make it a close fight between the top 4 - cool temps, smooth surface, lots of straights and medium/high speed corners make up a majority of the track. The team will need Norris to pick himself up, I think a bad qualy lap could put you down in 7th.

They had 2 sets of fresh tyres to our 3 otherwise even with the issues he'd have had sight of Oscar.

To be fair, the car went off a cliff a couple of laps into his stint, so it was likely car issues and not tyres that caused him to drop away from Oscar so dramatically.

[SoulPancake13]

Russell had issues with gears, DRS and it looks like his tyres went. Before that he was keeping in touch with Oscar, 7 seconds away at the safety car. Leclerc had no chance against a healthy Merc. On fact it had no chance against a merc with issues.

The hards were an awful tyre here, it had less grip and worse deg than the softs - not really fair to compare that stint. I do think both Merc and McLaren were faster than Ferrari but Ferrari did pick an interesting strategy that got a bit shafted by SC. Charles said post race he was saving behind George to extend but we'll never know.

On an unrelated note, I am very intrigued to see how McLaren do next week. The circuit (theoretically) has everything it needs to make it a close fight between the top 4 - cool temps, smooth surface, lots of straights and medium/high speed corners make up a majority of the track. The team will need Norris to pick himself up, I think a bad qualy lap could put you down in 7th.

They had 2 sets of fresh tyres to our 3 otherwise even with the issues he'd have had sight of Oscar.

To be fair, the car went off a cliff a couple of laps into his stint, so it was likely car issues and not tyres that caused him to drop away from Oscar so dramatically.

Yeah, George reported that his brake pedal started going long amidst all the other issues he was facing. Not sure why Lando didn't try and replicate the move he did on Charles around the outside of T4, the T1 move was desperate and pretty much ruined any chances of getting George (although Mercedes have unbelievable traction so maybe it wouldn't have been that easy)

[mwillems]

The hards were an awful tyre here, it had less grip and worse deg than the softs - not really fair to compare that stint. I do think both Merc and McLaren were faster than Ferrari but Ferrari did pick an interesting strategy that got a bit shafted by SC. Charles said post race he was saving behind George to extend but we'll never know.

On an unrelated note, I am very intrigued to see how McLaren do next week. The circuit (theoretically) has everything it needs to make it a close fight between the top 4 - cool temps, smooth surface, lots of straights and medium/high speed corners make up a majority of the track. The team will need Norris to pick himself up, I think a bad qualy lap could put you down in 7th.

They had 2 sets of fresh tyres to our 3 otherwise even with the issues he'd have had sight of Oscar.

To be fair, the car went off a cliff a couple of laps into his stint, so it was likely car issues and not tyres that caused him to drop away from Oscar so dramatically.

Yeah, George reported that his brake pedal started going long amidst all the other issues he was facing. Not sure why Lando didn't try and replicate the move he did on Charles around the outside of T4, the T1 move was desperate and pretty much ruined any chances of getting George (although Mercedes have unbelievable traction so maybe it wouldn't have been that easy)

Lando's racecraft was off.

Re:George. yeah, no doubt the same narrative will continue about our dominance. Reality is we had a consistent advantage but not a huge advantage and we didn't have a big deg advantage as many were suggesting we would.

Merc are very clearly a strong second fastest car, one upgrade away from matching or surpassing the Mclaren.

[CjC]

Supposedly there is a big upgrade for Merc in Imola.
I wonder what and where McLaren have planned

[Emag]

A good overview of both driver's views on this weekend from the race

Particularly interesting what Oscar had to say :

“Kind of known from pre-season testing that there’s some things we want to iron out but I think we’ve done a very good job of doing that and I’ve been comfortable, especially this weekend in what the car is able to do.”

It kind of implies they're improving the car through setup alone?
Haven't heard about any upgrades from McLaren. You would have to assume they will be bringing some things at some point, however big/small. Surely they can't afford to stay complacent, especially with the Spain TD looming.

[mwillems]

There might have been mechanical changes, with them not declared.

Stella did say the changes they needed to make were not quick. But I don't know if that is down to manufacturing or setup discovery.

[Seanspeed]

Lando was terrible this weekend. Let's hope he comes back strong next weekend.

And he still was super strong in results and got favorable stewards decisions.

This is the most dominant car we've seen since probably Mercedes in 2020.

[mwillems]

I'm pretty certain you're just trolling, but if you think 7s lead before the safety car is dominant you need your head seeing to