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I agree.f1isgood wrote: ↑19 Dec 2025, 21:05Anyone voting purely on driver performance should not be placing Norris in the top three on the grid. Over the season, he did not consistently extract the full potential of the car, even though that car was strong enough to win the WDC rather easily. That much should be broadly accepted by now.
This is not a knock on him however. He did what was required under the circumstances and deserves to be called a World Champion. But Formula 1 history shows that not every WDC is a generational talent. The sport has always had periods where solid, highly capable drivers win titles without being the absolute best on the grid. This is a very clear cut case of that.
In 2025 specifically, it’s difficult to argue, based on pure driving performance and execution that there weren’t at least three drivers who were better overall across the season.
If one driver was clearly behind the other then the deficiencies of the lead driver would be masked substantially.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025, 11:13It's all relative. If Piastri executed on a Verstappen level in the races he won, Norris did really well. If Piastri executed on Tsunoda level and Norris lost out then he did really bad. His season also improved a lot after Zaandvoort, he made some changes in his preparations and after that was very strong against Piastri.
I have issue with placing Russell ahead of Norris, he may have had a decent season but his benchmark is a rookie. We all remember how strong Norris was against Piastri in first two seasons, Antonelli is the same type of rookie, high ceiling but still a rookie. Leclerc is also somewhat problematic. It's quite possible that Hamilton is much slower than before (like Ricciardo) and you can't really judge how good of a season Leclerc had.
I'm going to break from the critical assessments of Lando. Using the words "not being a great WDC" is an insane way to talk about someone who wins a WDC. He did a pretty good job in the 2nd half where the most pressure was. His teammate did not. Most mathematical models rank him 3rd best this year which is incredible considering who his competition is. Mathematical models also don't have biases or agendas so its very revealing when several of them reach the same conclusion.mwillems wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025, 14:24
I agree with assessments of Lando as not being a great WDC. But put that to one side for a moment, because there was no talent in the same car that could push the other guys, they come away looking great.
Exactly like Lando did against Ricciardo.
Its just a load of opinion, nothing more.
I would imagine the input is along the lines of "Is there anything McLaren would like from the PU, maybe from your cooling team or gearbox team?" followed by "OK, thanks. We'll take those under consideration"
That would be Motion Applied.
Ah. My mistake, I didn't realise they'd been sold and changed their name.
Yes but it's one-way traffic. Wolff made clear several times in that video that Brixworth is there to serve the factory team and no one else. Both completely dismissed the idea that there was any positives seeing Mclaren win with Mercedes power. It meant very little to them. Wolff more or less said the customers are only there to be exploited for the benefit of the factory team.WardenOfTheNorth wrote: ↑21 Dec 2025, 15:24I would imagine the input is along the lines of "Is there anything McLaren would like from the PU, maybe from your cooling team or gearbox team?" followed by "OK, thanks. We'll take those under consideration"
Then Merc evaluate those to see whether there is any advantage for the factory team as well if they do them.
