2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Ben1980]

I'm putting the case that the expected race pace and tyre management of the McLaren WAS dominant here. Allied to that, Lando's mindset and racecaraft cost him massively and he didn't show McLaren's real pace in dirty air. Here goes;

Oscar's lead at the time of the safety car was 8 seconds.
Russell gained 2+ seconds on the undercut at the first stop.
When the race was restarted from SC Oscar had lost 10+ seconds.
His race victory was 15+ seconds, therefore equivalent to 25 seconds in a race not neutralised.
His pace at the end showed he had far more tyre life than his competitors, sure that's a benefit of being out front in clan air.

How did it appear that Oscar and McLaren didn't have more than 0.35 seconds per lap over Russell? Oscar was needing to defend his tyres, not his lead. First stint, 14 laps on softs - nobody knew how they would handle the heat so caution in extending a lead beyond the undercut was the priority. Oscar's first stint was only curtailed because of the Russell undercut threat.

Second stint on mediums wasn't as conservative as the first because of the confidence and knowledge in the mediums. 18 laps on mediums Oscar extended his lead from 2 seconds to 8.5 seconds running much of the time when not caught in traffic, nearly 0.5 faster than George.

Final stint and with Russell on softs and 20 racing laps left there was no way Oscar could lose. With 5 laps to go he was dipping into the 1.35s while everyone else was in the 1.37s and 1.38s - such was his advantage on worn tyres and low tanks. The only reason Oscar maintained this pace was to rub in the message while taking no risks at all. Masterclass.

Correct me where you disagree.

How did Landos mindset cost him anything? How can you make a comment on his mindset without knowing it, unless you are a psychologist maybe.

This mindset stuff is just being making stuff up.

Ben, respectfully, I've seen you post on this "how can you say this about Lando's mindset" theme. I'm not attacking simply stating what many of us know and can see. I have been competitive in motorsports and I don't need to puff myself up to say how the psychology is what it is.

It's not rocket science (or brain surgery), it's known sports psychology and years plus observing the trends. Any sport has a big psychological component. Motorsports tends to be even greater, as physical attributes, while important, don't dictate whether a person is going to be capable of a high level of competitiveness.

We observe Lando naively blundering into traps of media interaction, looking flustered, talking DOWN on himself. One of the most unquestioned parts of strong psychology is a POSITIVE mindset. Lando reveals his mindset isn't positive "I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, that's who I am". He said it! Well if you're going to rest on "that's who I am" then you aren't ready to take the next step. Quite extraordinary really that 6.25 years into F1, not to mention all the other years of serious racing, and Lando appears to be relying almost entirely on his natural talent. Which he has plenty of, among the very best!

Nico Rosberg was the most psycho-trained F1 champion I can recall, he knew he was in a war with his teammate Hamilton and trained his every thought to victory. Nico has seen and talked about Lando's battles with himself and offered to help him. His teammate was undoubtedly more naturally gifted than he was. Unsurprisingly, Lando the self sufficient young man "that's who I am" believes he can do it himself. Maybe he can, I wouldn't bet on it. Pick up the phone, we WANT you to succeed. All this is not to hate on the guy, I feel awful for him. He has been with McLaren since 2019, the mainstay since 2021 and now he is likely feeling somewhat usurped by this young teammate who is starting to, dare I offer an opinion, get under his skin.

My issue, is you are making all of the assumptions on soneone you don't know. You don't know what he does in the background or really how he is as a person.

This is someone, who not from a racing family, worked his way to getting into f1 at 18 or 19 years old.

You dont think he has mental toughness to do that?

People can be self deprecating, people can say things in the heat of the moment.

But, you, nor anyone really, can make comments on his mindset, when you dont know what his mindset is.

You are guessing, and talking like its a fact.

[BMMR61]

How did Landos mindset cost him anything? How can you make a comment on his mindset without knowing it, unless you are a psychologist maybe.

This mindset stuff is just being making stuff up.

Ben, respectfully, I've seen you post on this "how can you say this about Lando's mindset" theme. I'm not attacking simply stating what many of us know and can see. I have been competitive in motorsports and I don't need to puff myself up to say how the psychology is what it is.

It's not rocket science (or brain surgery), it's known sports psychology and years plus observing the trends. Any sport has a big psychological component. Motorsports tends to be even greater, as physical attributes, while important, don't dictate whether a person is going to be capable of a high level of competitiveness.

We observe Lando naively blundering into traps of media interaction, looking flustered, talking DOWN on himself. One of the most unquestioned parts of strong psychology is a POSITIVE mindset. Lando reveals his mindset isn't positive "I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, that's who I am". He said it! Well if you're going to rest on "that's who I am" then you aren't ready to take the next step. Quite extraordinary really that 6.25 years into F1, not to mention all the other years of serious racing, and Lando appears to be relying almost entirely on his natural talent. Which he has plenty of, among the very best!

Nico Rosberg was the most psycho-trained F1 champion I can recall, he knew he was in a war with his teammate Hamilton and trained his every thought to victory. Nico has seen and talked about Lando's battles with himself and offered to help him. His teammate was undoubtedly more naturally gifted than he was. Unsurprisingly, Lando the self sufficient young man "that's who I am" believes he can do it himself. Maybe he can, I wouldn't bet on it. Pick up the phone, we WANT you to succeed. All this is not to hate on the guy, I feel awful for him. He has been with McLaren since 2019, the mainstay since 2021 and now he is likely feeling somewhat usurped by this young teammate who is starting to, dare I offer an opinion, get under his skin.

My issue, is you are making all of the assumptions on soneone you don't know. You don't know what he does in the background or really how he is as a person.

This is someone, who not from a racing family, worked his way to getting into f1 at 18 or 19 years old.

You dont think he has mental toughness to do that?

People can be self deprecating, people can say things in the heat of the moment.

But, you, nor anyone really, can make comments on his mindset, when you dont know what his mindset is.

You are guessing, and talking like its a fact.

You don't appear to know the simplicity of sports psychology, and you don't appear to recognise when someone is expressing an opinion. And opinions is what people do on forums. Of course I believe Lando has mental toughness, that is never in question and he will bounce back.

It's hard not to come to an opinion that Lando undermines himself with some of his very negative comments about himself. "The power of death and life is in the tongue" is an ancient proverb.

[Ben1980]

Ben, respectfully, I've seen you post on this "how can you say this about Lando's mindset" theme. I'm not attacking simply stating what many of us know and can see. I have been competitive in motorsports and I don't need to puff myself up to say how the psychology is what it is.

It's not rocket science (or brain surgery), it's known sports psychology and years plus observing the trends. Any sport has a big psychological component. Motorsports tends to be even greater, as physical attributes, while important, don't dictate whether a person is going to be capable of a high level of competitiveness.

We observe Lando naively blundering into traps of media interaction, looking flustered, talking DOWN on himself. One of the most unquestioned parts of strong psychology is a POSITIVE mindset. Lando reveals his mindset isn't positive "I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, that's who I am". He said it! Well if you're going to rest on "that's who I am" then you aren't ready to take the next step. Quite extraordinary really that 6.25 years into F1, not to mention all the other years of serious racing, and Lando appears to be relying almost entirely on his natural talent. Which he has plenty of, among the very best!

Nico Rosberg was the most psycho-trained F1 champion I can recall, he knew he was in a war with his teammate Hamilton and trained his every thought to victory. Nico has seen and talked about Lando's battles with himself and offered to help him. His teammate was undoubtedly more naturally gifted than he was. Unsurprisingly, Lando the self sufficient young man "that's who I am" believes he can do it himself. Maybe he can, I wouldn't bet on it. Pick up the phone, we WANT you to succeed. All this is not to hate on the guy, I feel awful for him. He has been with McLaren since 2019, the mainstay since 2021 and now he is likely feeling somewhat usurped by this young teammate who is starting to, dare I offer an opinion, get under his skin.

My issue, is you are making all of the assumptions on soneone you don't know. You don't know what he does in the background or really how he is as a person.

This is someone, who not from a racing family, worked his way to getting into f1 at 18 or 19 years old.

You dont think he has mental toughness to do that?

People can be self deprecating, people can say things in the heat of the moment.

But, you, nor anyone really, can make comments on his mindset, when you dont know what his mindset is.

You are guessing, and talking like its a fact.

You don't appear to know the simplicity of sports psychology, and you don't appear to recognise when someone is expressing an opinion. And opinions is what people do on forums. Of course I believe Lando has mental toughness, that is never in question and he will bounce back.

It's hard not to come to an opinion that Lando undermines himself with some of his very negative comments about himself. "The power of death and life is in the tongue" is an ancient proverb.

People have opinions, that's fine and normal. But, opinions are seemingly being treated as facts, especially on forums.

I would be very surprised if Lando doesn't use a sports psychologist or other type of therapist. I would be surprised if many didn't. He's quite a modern person.

The constant quotes, from many accounts, that Lando is mentally weak, or struggles because of his mind set are just people making up things they don't know about.

If worse when people think what he says in the media impacts his performance.

It just seems to be a stick to bash him with, when it's not really needed.

[De Wet]

Lando is clearly struggling with this year car compared to Piastri, and the next race in Jeddah will be no different. If he will not be able to adapt to it in the next 2-3 races he might not just lose the championship position to Oscar but, to Max and Russel too.

It will be interesting to see how close the other teams will be in Jeddah given that the MCL25 top speed is significantly below the others.

Depends on what downforce levels they decide on. I don't think MCL39 is that slow. I think we have just run higher downforce so far as it gives faster overall lap time.

[Seanspeed]

I dont believe blind positivity is necessarily some requirement to be at your best. Plenty of great competitors, especially in team sports where they have coaches and whatnot who will be able to break down their shortcomings and tell them how to work on things and whatnot, can be more motivated by realism and being hard on themselves so they work harder to fix anything they've done or have been doing wrong. But there's a balance obviously. Spiraling frustration can certainly start to more significantly affect performance.

F1 is still this weird situation where the drivers, despite having these $100m teams behind them, are still a lot more on their own in having to figure things out and find their own way. Teams can and will help, but for better drivers, it's usually gonna be at the behest of the driver, not management. I mean, listen to how irritated so many drivers get even just having their engineer suggest ways to be faster.

[Ben1980]

What i do like with Lando is his openness to discuss Mental Health, and how he has struggled at times, especially when coming in to F1. I saw he has a trainer which also helps with MH.

I see that Tom Stallard oversees a team psychologist on Oscar side. So would expect Lando has one aswell.

[basti313]

Public opinion seems to have shifted in favour of Piastri being the better driver at McLaren. Do you guys agree with this?

I think these claims are utter BS.

My source for that claim is betting odds (which have Piastri at 47% vs Norris at 42%) but I didn’t want to specify that over fears of getting slapped with a ban for advertising gambling or something, even if I was just using it as a guage of sentiment.

Well, that is not the question who is the better driver. This is who people think is more likely to win this battle about the WDC. And albeit thinking this will be decided by a bit of luck like dumping cars into grass...if I have to bet now, I would also bet on Oscar. He just looks more composed and already recovered the loss at Oz.

[mwillems]

McLaren makes best start to a season since before its drivers were born

https://www.racefans.net/2025/04/15/mcl ... were-born/

[deadhead]

I’m really enjoying what PIA is able to do with this McLaren. Good lad.

[Farnborough]

Betting odds are purely about them trying to keep punters money in their pockets. It truly reflects THEIR business model.

I wouldn't be so quick to switch horses though. Last year showed obvious difference in points accumulation between the two, this year has started more evenly with both having gained experience. One glitch from Lando and the press (another business, with their own interest at heart) goes into spasm about being usurped.

Respondents on here often just wanting to say they are right, for their own gratification

I don't feel Lando has shifted away from his potential, very candid in his personal output, everyone pilling in with their own bias, not much changed. There's going to be very intense competition, already its hot in four races. He's got the speed to achieve it, others will question his application.

Looks to be four runners in WDC reality this year, with these two plus GR & MV. Possibly a big change in coming rules shift and car updates. Clearer picture only after that. For all of them, clinging on to be close in that front four is crucial in getting to the next stage.

Aggregated position, Lando has done the best job so far.