2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[IntrinsicVoid]

Weird all these people just randomly pop in into McLaren thread with 'Lando is not good enough to win WDC'. I am not sure what the purpose of such messages is?

To give an opinion, sorry that not all are wearing pink glasses here.
Personally I would like someone else to take WDC and I’ll be glad if it’s Lando.

But… as I’ve said he has to up the game if he wants to prove us that he’s WDC material. This weekend he did good, no question about that and he should continue this trend. But losing some valuable points this season will cost him the WDC. He has to place himself on the track and on the team.

[IntrinsicVoid]

We don’t have proof that it was illegal. Plenty of times we see that these cars are very tricky to develop. Props to McLaren for achieving what they have now.
Max had to battle Hamilton in 2021 and that’s what makes you WDC material. We’re not going to cry a river that Lando has to do all of these things, that is needed from WDC material driver and quite frankly he still has to prove that, that’s my humble opinion.

You mean the asymmetric braking system that was already been illegal in both 1997 and 1998. Pretty much another form of it wont make it legal.

Yet we’re waiting on the proof. I don’t how to break it to you. But it’s up to you to be arrogant and stubborn. Also it will be quite funny if something pops up for the McLaren as well and I’m pretty sure you will be on the first line of defense and asking to see proof. So lets end it here.

[bananapeel23]

By putting Leclerc there your post lost everything you wanted to point. You already forgot Leclerc masterclass 2022 when he did all the possible mistakes in the world (spin at Imola, crash at Paul Ricard, chaos in Monaco due to pitwall, losing P2 in Suzuka in the last corner to Perez etc etc)?
If you forgot, there is something to remember:
https://racingnews365.com/leclerc-refle ... es-in-2022

https://www.racefans.net/2022/10/21/lec ... s-in-2022/

So maybe McLaren is in the same position now, having a very good car but doing strategy errors (like in Silverstone or Monza) or driver couldn't extract all the car potential (Imola or Spain).
I am very happy where McLaren is, where Lando is, how Oscar is performing and like me are a lot of McLaren fans. Taking the positive of a 2024 that didn't start well and looking for 2025 with more than optimism. Cheers!

Comparing Leclerc 2022 to Norris in 2024 is not really the comparison you think it is. Ferrari and Red Bull alternated who was the quickest all throughout the first half of 2022. Let's look at the notable events.

Bahrain: Pole. Absolutely schooled Max in cars that were pretty much equal.

Saudi Arabia: Outqualifies Max. Extremely close race in equal cars

Australia: Grand Chelem

Imola: Real mistake, still finished P4 (I think?)

Spain: Pole. Engine blows up in race he's leading by 10 seconds.

Monaco: Arguably the most dominant pole of the decade, leads comfortably until Ferrari makes the most ridiculous strategy mistake I've ever seen.

Baku: Pole. Engine blows up while leading the race by some 10 seconds. Realistically would finish P1 or P2.

Canada: Engine penalty due to aforementioned engine explosions. Excellent P20 to P5 recovery drive.

Austria: (Would be) Dominant win in a car that was slightly faster than Red Bull. Throttle gets stuck in the last 5 or so laps. Still manages to win by a slim margin.

Silverstone: Would have been a dominant win a car that was marginally faster than the Red Bull and Mercedes. Utterly dominates Sainz despite having a damaged front wing. Late safety car where everyone except Leclerc pits due to Ferrari stupidity. Still manages to keep Hamilton and Perez behind for several laps and finishes P4 within a few seconds of them.

Paul Ricard: Pole. Genuine mistake when pushing on an in-lap in a car that was almost equal to Red Bull. Really terrible mistake, but at least understandable that he was pushing like an animal after the ridiculous bad luck he had faced thoughout the entire season.

Spa: TD39, car completely crippled and incapable of winning anything due to absolutely horrid race pace and tyre wear. Still manages several more poles and holds on to P2 in the WDC despite the car being absolutely terrible.

Leclerc made 2 mistakes while the 2022 Ferrari was competitive and was facing absolutely rotten luck. Would still have gone into the summer break comfortably in the lead if not for the 2 engine failures and Ferrari actively sabotaging him with their strategy calls. He lost probably 2 races he could have won due to his own mistakes, with one of them being Saudi Arabia, which was VERY close and still a great performance.

Norris isn't anywhere near as good as Leclerc was in 2022. He has lost wins he should have secured in: Monza, Spa, Austria, Imola, Monaco, Hungary, Baku.

[Ben1980]

Weird all these people just randomly pop in into McLaren thread with 'Lando is not good enough to win WDC'. I am not sure what the purpose of such messages is?

To give an opinion, sorry that not all are wearing pink glasses here.
Personally I would like someone else to take WDC and I’ll be glad if it’s Lando.

But… as I’ve said he has to up the game if he wants to prove us that he’s WDC material. This weekend he did good, no question about that and he should continue this trend. But losing some valuable points this season will cost him the WDC. He has to place himself on the track and on the team.

Would you not say he has upped his game? Since the restart, he has 2 wins by 20seconds plus, a very good recovery drive after, an incident that wasn't his fault, only issue being Monza.

[FittingMechanics]

McLaren was not fastest since Miami, that is load of bollocks.

Miami - safety car luck and Max damage (or at least that is what you people said at the time).
Imola - Max pole and win (Lando was catching up at the end)
Monaco - Leclerc fastest
Canada - Max P2, Lando P3 in qualy, mixed conditions race with McLaren fastest in drying conditions but slower in other (wet or dry)
Spain - Max beats Lando on track at start, stays ahead in race
Austria - Max clearly ahead in qualy and race until last slow pitstop which puts him under pressure, without slow pitstop this is a clean Max win
Silverstone - Nor P3 in qualy behind Mercedes, chaotic race and mistakes from pitwall cost them the win, again clearly best only in mixed conditions
Hungary - McLaren best
Max P1 by a mile in qualy but takes an engine penalty, in the race Mercedes fastest
Netherlands - McLaren fastest
Italy - McLaren probably fastest but worse on tyres or miscalculate tyre durability
Baku - 3 teams almost same pace (McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull)
Singapore - McLaren fastest

Objectively speaking, McLaren was fastest only on three tracks (Hungary, Netherlands and Singapore - 3 high DF tracks). They were close in couple of others but not ahead by a clear margin. They were probably fastest in Monaco but Leclerc did his thing in qualy.

I know you guys want to make Max into some magical god that is beating a godly McLaren but the truth is that the car is fast but only dominant in high downforce tracks.

Max had a clearly faster car in Miami, Spa, Imola and Austria.

[IntrinsicVoid]

Weird all these people just randomly pop in into McLaren thread with 'Lando is not good enough to win WDC'. I am not sure what the purpose of such messages is?

To give an opinion, sorry that not all are wearing pink glasses here.
Personally I would like someone else to take WDC and I’ll be glad if it’s Lando.

But… as I’ve said he has to up the game if he wants to prove us that he’s WDC material. This weekend he did good, no question about that and he should continue this trend. But losing some valuable points this season will cost him the WDC. He has to place himself on the track and on the team.

Would you not say he has upped his game? Since the restart, he has 2 wins by 20seconds plus, a very good recovery drive after, an incident that wasn't his fault, only issue being Monza.

I’ve said it, the proof is that he finishes like this till the end of the season. Maximizing what you can do without considering Max trajectory should be the priority for him, perfection in other words.

[Emag]

By putting Leclerc there your post lost everything you wanted to point. You already forgot Leclerc masterclass 2022 when he did all the possible mistakes in the world (spin at Imola, crash at Paul Ricard, chaos in Monaco due to pitwall, losing P2 in Suzuka in the last corner to Perez etc etc)?
If you forgot, there is something to remember:
https://racingnews365.com/leclerc-refle ... es-in-2022

https://www.racefans.net/2022/10/21/lec ... s-in-2022/

So maybe McLaren is in the same position now, having a very good car but doing strategy errors (like in Silverstone or Monza) or driver couldn't extract all the car potential (Imola or Spain).
I am very happy where McLaren is, where Lando is, how Oscar is performing and like me are a lot of McLaren fans. Taking the positive of a 2024 that didn't start well and looking for 2025 with more than optimism. Cheers!

Comparing Leclerc 2022 to Norris in 2024 is not really the comparison you think it is. Ferrari and Red Bull alternated who was the quickest all throughout the first half of 2022. Let's look at the notable events.

Bahrain: Pole. Absolutely schooled Max in cars that were pretty much equal.

Saudi Arabia: Outqualifies Max. Extremely close race in equal cars

Australia: Grand Chelem

Imola: Real mistake, still finished P4 (I think?)

Spain: Pole. Engine blows up in race he's leading by 10 seconds.

Monaco: Arguably the most dominant pole of the decade, leads comfortably until Ferrari makes the most ridiculous strategy mistake I've ever seen.

Baku: Pole. Engine blows up while leading the race by some 10 seconds. Realistically would finish P1 or P2.

Canada: Engine penalty due to aforementioned engine explosions. Excellent P20 to P5 recovery drive.

Austria: (Would be) Dominant win in a car that was slightly faster than Red Bull. Throttle gets stuck in the last 5 or so laps. Still manages to win by a slim margin.

Silverstone: Would have been a dominant win a car that was marginally faster than the Red Bull and Mercedes. Utterly dominates Sainz despite having a damaged front wing. Late safety car where everyone except Leclerc pits due to Ferrari stupidity. Still manages to keep Hamilton and Perez behind for several laps and finishes P4 within a few seconds of them.

Paul Ricard: Pole. Genuine mistake when pushing on an in-lap in a car that was almost equal to Red Bull. Really terrible mistake, but at least understandable that he was pushing like an animal after the ridiculous bad luck he had faced thoughout the entire season.

Spa: TD39, car completely crippled and incapable of winning anything due to absolutely horrid race pace and tyre wear. Still manages several more poles and holds on to P2 in the WDC despite the car being absolutely terrible.

Leclerc made 2 mistakes while the 2022 Ferrari was competitive and was facing absolutely rotten luck. Would still have gone into the summer break comfortably in the lead if not for the 2 engine failures and Ferrari actively sabotaging him with their strategy calls. He lost probably 2 races he could have won due to his own mistakes, with one of them being Saudi Arabia, which was VERY close and still a great performance.

Norris isn't anywhere near as good as Leclerc was in 2022. He has lost wins he should have secured in: Monza, Spa, Austria, Imola, Monaco, Hungary, Baku.

Couldn't disagree more about Spa, Austria, Imola, Monaco and Baku.

- At Spa he should have outscored Max, but win it? Mercedes had the best pace on the first stint and it was really close on the second. At the end there Lewis was pretty much on pace with Oscar.
Even if you assume Lando never messed up lap 1 and was in the fight, what guarantee was there that he would overtake 3 cars for the win? McLaren was not good on the wet weather quali and they had bad track position. It was highly unlikely he would win that race considering how good Mercdes' racepace turned out to be.

- Austria is Lando's fault, really? Max had a comfortable qualifying margin. I'll give you the sprint, if he had properly completed the overtake, he should have won it. However, In the main race, Max gapped Lando by 7-ish seconds on the first stint. Assuming RedBull never messes up their stop, Lando had to close the gap and also overtake him on-track in less than 20 laps. The only reason we even got a battle at all is because RedBull messed up the stop. Then if you blame Lando for the crash, okay, but Max has a way of racing around Austria ... If you're a fan of Leclerc you know how cleanly he goes around there. Didn't he take the position away by pushing Charles off back in 2019?

- Why do you even include Imola here? Max got a lucky tow in qualifying, which is completely out of Lando's control, but also RedBull was absolutely the best car on the first stint. Max pulled a big gap on the mediums. Lando was only able to make a huge comeback on the hards because RedBull was struggling the setup and the car wasn't working on that last stint. Under no other circumstances could have Lando won that race in what is one of the most notoriously difficult tracks to overtake on.

- At Monaco, it was Charles' pole to lose and pole in Monaco is pretty much the race win. He was flying since FP1. I know you will pull the best sectors timings to show McLaren had the potential to be on pole, but it was not easy for either driver to put their best sectors on a single lap. The only thing you can blame Lando for, is not beating his teammate. Even for that, his final lap was compromised because the team sent him out on a bad position for the outlap, hitting traffic with Carlos. Who knows, perhaps with a proper final lap he might have been the one in the front rows. Nevertheless, the point was about missed wins. And I disagree, Leclerc was flying the whole weekend. McLaren might have been the better car, but it's not the first time a driver in a faster car loses a race to a driver in a slower car but who is having an amazing weekend.

- Again, why the hell is Baku here? McLaren underestimated the track evolution in Q1 and they ended up in a very awkward position where both drivers had to complete the last lap in Q1 in order to make it through. Lando was unlucky and couldn't make it. What more could have Lando done after that quali result?

[bananapeel23]

McLaren was not fastest since Miami, that is load of bollocks.

Miami - safety car luck and Max damage (or at least that is what you people said at the time).
Imola - Max pole and win (Lando was catching up at the end)
Monaco - Leclerc fastest
Canada - Max P2, Lando P3 in qualy, mixed conditions race with McLaren fastest in drying conditions but slower in other (wet or dry)
Spain - Max beats Lando on track at start, stays ahead in race
Austria - Max clearly ahead in qualy and race until last slow pitstop which puts him under pressure, without slow pitstop this is a clean Max win
Silverstone - Nor P3 in qualy behind Mercedes, chaotic race and mistakes from pitwall cost them the win, again clearly best only in mixed conditions
Hungary - McLaren best
Max P1 by a mile in qualy but takes an engine penalty, in the race Mercedes fastest
Netherlands - McLaren fastest
Italy - McLaren probably fastest but worse on tyres or miscalculate tyre durability
Baku - 3 teams almost same pace (McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull)
Singapore - McLaren fastest

Objectively speaking, McLaren was fastest only on three tracks (Hungary, Netherlands and Singapore - 3 high DF tracks). They were close in couple of others but not ahead by a clear margin. They were probably fastest in Monaco but Leclerc did his thing in qualy.

I know you guys want to make Max into some magical god that is beating a godly McLaren but the truth is that the car is fast but only dominant in high downforce tracks.

Miami: Debateable whether or not McLarenw ere truly the fastest.

Imola: Fastest in quali, fastest on the hards

Monaco: McLaren had the best combined sectors of any team. Leclerc just put together a monster lap.

Canada: Poor strategy leads to loss, definitely the fastest at some times, arguable in others.

Spain: Lando loses out in the start, fails to come back in equally fast (or faster car)

Silverstone: Best car overall, poor strategy but arguably should have won regardless.

Austria: Absolutely undeniably faster than Red Bull in the later stages of the race. Norris gets a track limits penalty, fails to overtake several times. Terrible performance even if the crash wasn't really his fault.

Hungary: Terrible start costs Norris an easy win.

Netherlands: Loses pole at the start, luckily car is so dominant it doesn't matter. Would have lost due to it if Red Bull had pace.

Spa: Terrible performance from Norris. Only race since Miami where McLaren arguably wasn't in contention.

Monza: Pole. Terrible start means an easy win becomes P3.

Baku: Terrible Q2 banker lap means he doesn't get out of Q2.

Singapore: Good start. Dominant race pace. Needlessly pushes way too hard and almost bins the car twice.

[SilviuAgo]

By putting Leclerc there your post lost everything you wanted to point. You already forgot Leclerc masterclass 2022 when he did all the possible mistakes in the world (spin at Imola, crash at Paul Ricard, chaos in Monaco due to pitwall, losing P2 in Suzuka in the last corner to Perez etc etc)?
If you forgot, there is something to remember:
https://racingnews365.com/leclerc-refle ... es-in-2022

https://www.racefans.net/2022/10/21/lec ... s-in-2022/

So maybe McLaren is in the same position now, having a very good car but doing strategy errors (like in Silverstone or Monza) or driver couldn't extract all the car potential (Imola or Spain).
I am very happy where McLaren is, where Lando is, how Oscar is performing and like me are a lot of McLaren fans. Taking the positive of a 2024 that didn't start well and looking for 2025 with more than optimism. Cheers!

Comparing Leclerc 2022 to Norris in 2024 is not really the comparison you think it is. Ferrari and Red Bull alternated who was the quickest all throughout the first half of 2022. Let's look at the notable events.

Bahrain: Pole. Absolutely schooled Max in cars that were pretty much equal.

Saudi Arabia: Outqualifies Max. Extremely close race in equal cars

Australia: Grand Chelem

Imola: Real mistake, still finished P4 (I think?)

Spain: Pole. Engine blows up in race he's leading by 10 seconds.

Monaco: Arguably the most dominant pole of the decade, leads comfortably until Ferrari makes the most ridiculous strategy mistake I've ever seen.

Baku: Pole. Engine blows up while leading the race by some 10 seconds. Realistically would finish P1 or P2.

Canada: Engine penalty due to aforementioned engine explosions. Excellent P20 to P5 recovery drive.

Austria: (Would be) Dominant win in a car that was slightly faster than Red Bull. Throttle gets stuck in the last 5 or so laps. Still manages to win by a slim margin.

Silverstone: Would have been a dominant win a car that was marginally faster than the Red Bull and Mercedes. Utterly dominates Sainz despite having a damaged front wing. Late safety car where everyone except Leclerc pits due to Ferrari stupidity. Still manages to keep Hamilton and Perez behind for several laps and finishes P4 within a few seconds of them.

Paul Ricard: Pole. Genuine mistake when pushing on an in-lap in a car that was almost equal to Red Bull. Really terrible mistake, but at least understandable that he was pushing like an animal after the ridiculous bad luck he had faced thoughout the entire season.

Spa: TD39, car completely crippled and incapable of winning anything due to absolutely horrid race pace and tyre wear. Still manages several more poles and holds on to P2 in the WDC despite the car being absolutely terrible.

Leclerc made 2 mistakes while the 2022 Ferrari was competitive and was facing absolutely rotten luck. Would still have gone into the summer break comfortably in the lead if not for the 2 engine failures and Ferrari actively sabotaging him with their strategy calls. He lost probably 2 races he could have won due to his own mistakes, with one of them being Saudi Arabia, which was VERY close and still a great performance.

Norris isn't anywhere near as good as Leclerc was in 2022. He has lost wins he should have secured in: Monza, Spa, Austria, Imola, Monaco, Hungary, Baku.

Couldn't disagree more about Spa, Austria, Imola, Monaco and Baku.

- At Spa he should have outscored Max, but win it? Mercedes had the best pace on the first stint and it was really close on the second. At the end there Lewis was pretty much on pace with Oscar.
Even if you assume Lando never messed up lap 1 and was in the fight, what guarantee was there that he would overtake 3 cars for the win? McLaren was not good on the wet weather quali and they had bad track position. It was highly unlikely he would win that race considering how good Mercdes' racepace turned out to be.

- Austria is Lando's fault, really? Max had a comfortable qualifying margin. I'll give you the sprint, if he had properly completed the overtake, he should have won it. However, In the main race, Max gapped Lando by 7-ish seconds on the first stint. Assuming RedBull never messes up their stop, Lando had to close the gap and also overtake him on-track in less than 20 laps. The only reason we even got a battle at all is because RedBull messed up the stop. Then if you blame Lando for the crash, okay, but Max has a way of racing around Austria ... If you're a fan of Leclerc you know how cleanly he goes around there. Didn't he take the position away by pushing Charles off back in 2019?

- Why do you even include Imola here? Max got a lucky tow in qualifying, which is completely out of Lando's control, but also RedBull was absolutely the best car on the first stint. Max pulled a big gap on the mediums. Lando was only able to make a huge comeback on the hards because RedBull was struggling the setup and the car wasn't working on that last stint. Under no other circumstances could have Lando won that race in what is one of the most notoriously difficult tracks to overtake on.

- At Monaco, it was Charles' pole to lose and pole in Monaco is pretty much the race win. He was flying since FP1. I know you will pull the best sectors timings to show McLaren had the potential to be on pole, but it was not easy for either driver to put their best sectors on a single lap. The only thing you can blame Lando for, is not beating his teammate. Even for that, his final lap was compromised because the team sent him out on a bad position for the outlap, hitting traffic with Carlos. Who knows, perhaps with a proper final lap he might have been the one in the front rows. Nevertheless, the point was about missed wins. And I disagree, Leclerc was flying the whole weekend. McLaren might have been the better car, but it's not the first time a driver in a faster car loses a race to a driver in a slower car but who is having an amazing weekend.

- Again, why the hell is Baku here? McLaren underestimated the track evolution in Q1 and they ended up in a very awkward position where both drivers had to complete the last lap in Q1 in order to make it through. Lando was unlucky and couldn't make it. What more could have Lando done after that quali result?

Excellent summary!
As I said before, I'm enjoying this season and hoping for the best from 2025. McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Lando, Oscar, Leclerc, Sainz, Ham and Russell are spicing a season at the start of which everyone was expecting 24 RB wins, after the total dominance from 2023, and the only question was if RB will win also Singapore or not.
Happy that we are seeing McLaren victories and good fights between not 2 but 4 teams. Let's enjoy the remaining 6 races!

[Darth-Piekus]

Yet we’re waiting on the proof. I don’t how to break it to you. But it’s up to you to be arrogant and stubborn. Also it will be quite funny if something pops up for the McLaren as well and I’m pretty sure you will be on the first line of defense and asking to see proof. So lets end it here.

In that case go look the 1997 Williams with its asymmetrical braking and the 1998 Mclaren with the 3rd pedal. They've been illegalised then and pretty sure another form of the same system isnt any different.

[Emag]

McLaren was not fastest since Miami, that is load of bollocks.

Miami - safety car luck and Max damage (or at least that is what you people said at the time).
Imola - Max pole and win (Lando was catching up at the end)
Monaco - Leclerc fastest
Canada - Max P2, Lando P3 in qualy, mixed conditions race with McLaren fastest in drying conditions but slower in other (wet or dry)
Spain - Max beats Lando on track at start, stays ahead in race
Austria - Max clearly ahead in qualy and race until last slow pitstop which puts him under pressure, without slow pitstop this is a clean Max win
Silverstone - Nor P3 in qualy behind Mercedes, chaotic race and mistakes from pitwall cost them the win, again clearly best only in mixed conditions
Hungary - McLaren best
Max P1 by a mile in qualy but takes an engine penalty, in the race Mercedes fastest
Netherlands - McLaren fastest
Italy - McLaren probably fastest but worse on tyres or miscalculate tyre durability
Baku - 3 teams almost same pace (McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull)
Singapore - McLaren fastest

Objectively speaking, McLaren was fastest only on three tracks (Hungary, Netherlands and Singapore - 3 high DF tracks). They were close in couple of others but not ahead by a clear margin. They were probably fastest in Monaco but Leclerc did his thing in qualy.

I know you guys want to make Max into some magical god that is beating a godly McLaren but the truth is that the car is fast but only dominant in high downforce tracks.

Max had a clearly faster car in Miami, Spa, Imola and Austria.

If the season had started with RedBull not having that ungodly advantage they had at the start of the season (which disappeared in a non suspicious way at all after Miami btw *wink *wink) and McLaren with the car they had at Miami, then I would agree with people who say it's a miracle Max is still leading.

But when you get a headstart with a couple of wins, while the rest of the season is one of the most heavily contested season in a long time, then of course it will be extremely difficult to close that headstart Max had.

Of course if you are under the delusion that McLaren has had the clear-fastest car since Miami everywhere, then you're justified for thinking Lando should have been leading the wdc by now. However, the only instances where McLaren had a clear advantage over everyone else, the races were won by them. Everywhere else, it has been pretty dependent on track-conditions and even between stints on different tires.

Besides, it's crazy how pronounced the "double-standard" is when it comes to comparing Lando and Max/Leclerc/Lewis or whoever someone might consider the best.

Whenever any of those drivers pull amazing results and completely outclass their teammates, it's never the car, it's always the driver.

When Lando does the same (Australia, Japan, Spain, Austria, Netherlands and Singapore), it's always the car being a rocketship and Lando being a car merchant, even though people seem to praise and rate Oscar pretty highly when he does well ...

[Macklaren]

Weird all these people just randomly pop in into McLaren thread with 'Lando is not good enough to win WDC'. I am not sure what the purpose of such messages is?

It's called coping. Several fanbases are having a really hard time accepting the surge of McLaren/Lando

Apparently Max is a God because he finishes so far ahead of his teammate (the car must be rubbish and it's all the driver) but Lando is crap even though he finished 35s ahead of his teammate (world have been 45 if not for traffic)

[Darth-Piekus]

Its called coping indeed. They cant accept that Max is nothing special like Hamilton or Alonso is and cant stand the 2024 exposing that he got and tend to lash out to whatever they find.

[FittingMechanics]

Weird all these people just randomly pop in into McLaren thread with 'Lando is not good enough to win WDC'. I am not sure what the purpose of such messages is?

It's called coping. Several fanbases are having a really hard time accepting the surge of McLaren/Lando

Apparently Max is a God because he finishes so far ahead of his teammate (the car must be rubbish and it's all the driver) but Lando is crap even though he finished 35s ahead of his teammate (world have been 45 if not for traffic)

Heavy dose of copium for sure. While I no longer think WDC is achievable (Max makes too little mistakes and the car is not that bad), I think they are still worried about potential future where Max loses a championship after having such a big lead (historically big loss).

I think it is obvious that the car became a contender after Miami but unfortunately it wasn't clearly fastest in any races except three high downforce races (Zaandvort, Hungaroring and Singapore). This also means that it may be very hard to keep up the pressure in the remaining races but it could depend on Austin update. I think McLaren will bring a significant step there and if it works, they may end up clearly fastest in all races to the end of season. If that happens - who knows.

[FittingMechanics]

How things are going, it's quite possible that McLaren seals the WCC before WDC is decided. Currently 41 points ahead of Red Bull. If Perez cannot keep up in the remaining races the gap should only increase.