2025 McLaren F1 Team

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Was Lando running the same long run plan as Oscar? Their times are very different

Norris only did one or two laps, stuck behind Tsunoda

[Darth-Piekus]

Im curious to hear your sources and opinion on the matter then. Is this not what happened?

The part was never removed because it was perfectly legal. And I don't see the relevance of spreading made up conspiracies about another team in the 2025 McLaren thread, it's off topic.

First I'm pretty sure the asymmetrical braking system was removed and the FIA forced Red Bull to change the front bib to be inside the rules. Secondly we are making a friendly discussion nothing more nothing less. Thirdly these are events that happened and not a conspiracy theory. Fourthly it's something that affected Mclaren and either me or someone else will mention it. I don't see why some people tend to play the role of the bad policeman.

Anyway. Onwards to try and get the 1-2 tomorrow. It won't be easy as the car is not a dominant car like some pundits want us to believe.

[SoulPancake13]

Was Lando running the same long run plan as Oscar? Their times are very different

Norris only did one or two laps, stuck behind Tsunoda

Got it, thank you. Oscar's pace looks really strong but from telemetry it looks like RBR and Ferrari ran with much lower engine mode. Should be a close one, but I think Lando has looked strong all weekend - I'd bet on him getting pole

[Emag]

Just putting it here, Lando aborted medium lap. He was going to improve by almost 4 tenths on his best medium run (which would have put about a tenth ahead of Leclerc) :

[mwillems]

Im curious to hear your sources and opinion on the matter then. Is this not what happened?

The part was never removed because it was perfectly legal. And I don't see the relevance of spreading made up conspiracies about another team in the 2025 McLaren thread, it's off topic.

First I'm pretty sure the asymmetrical braking system was removed and the FIA forced Red Bull to change the front bib to be inside the rules. Secondly we are making a friendly discussion nothing more nothing less. Thirdly these are events that happened and not a conspiracy theory. Fourthly it's something that affected Mclaren and either me or someone else will mention it. I don't see why some people tend to play the role of the bad policeman.

Anyway. Onwards to try and get the 1-2 tomorrow. It won't be easy as the car is not a dominant car like some pundits want us to believe.

No one was found using asymmetrical braking

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/exclu ... /10646001/

Red Bull did nothing wrong by having a ride height device and broke no rules. The seal was precautionary.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/red-b ... /10663590/


You have a very hazy memory.

[CjC]

Mark thinks Mclaren still have a huge long run pace advantage contradicting some of the ‘low deg track’ suggestions
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/saud ... 5-mclaren/

[AR3-GP]

Mark thinks Mclaren still have a huge long run pace advantage contradicting some of the ‘low deg track’ suggestions
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/saud ... 5-mclaren/

It’s no longer a low deg track because Pirelli brought 1 step softer tire compounds. So now it’s a more normal situation. Not as extreme as Bahrain, but not everybody negative deg either like last year.

[CjC]

Mark thinks Mclaren still have a huge long run pace advantage contradicting some of the ‘low deg track’ suggestions
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/saud ... 5-mclaren/

It’s no longer a low deg track because Pirelli brought 1 step softer tire compounds. So now it’s a more normal situation. Not as extreme as Bahrain, but not everybody negative deg either like last year.

Yea I was mainly pointing it out to some of the forum members who aren’t McLaren fans and who are fantasising ways they could beat McLaren.

I was glad to hear in the commentary that Pirelli have gone a step softer- least they are trying to create better racing, in all fairness I think everyone, including Pirelli were caught out but the re-surfaced S1 at Suzuka

[Emag]

Mark thinks Mclaren still have a huge long run pace advantage contradicting some of the ‘low deg track’ suggestions
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/saud ... 5-mclaren/

It’s no longer a low deg track because Pirelli brought 1 step softer tire compounds. So now it’s a more normal situation. Not as extreme as Bahrain, but not everybody negative deg either like last year.

Yea I was mainly pointing it out to some of the forum members who aren’t McLaren fans and who are fantasising ways they could beat McLaren.

I was glad to hear in the commentary that Pirelli have gone a step softer- least they are trying to create better racing, in all fairness I think everyone, including Pirelli were caught out but the re-surfaced S1 at Suzuka

I think this is the only track where McLaren is looking beatable so far this season actually, wouldn't call it "fantasising". Things are really close both with Ferrari and RedBull. Suzuka looked far better for McLaren and they ended up getting beaten both in Saturday and Sunday. Wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of a Leclerc or Verstappen pole and then who knows what happens in the race in that case.

[Ben1980]

I am again expecting a tight qualifying, like most sessions have been.

[mwillems]

Looking from a trend perspective, we seem to on average relatively improve less than Red Bull and Merc, whereas the Ferrari doesn't seem to have consistency either in their run plans or in the conditions but on face value the heat may retard the performance of Ferrari a little, so temps at todays Q will determine how far forward they go, but but they are already close.

Red Bull's improvement, so far, has been consistent and looking at the general trend you'd think they are going to be close. Merc have made big strides, hiding their pace until Q and look to remain in the fight for pole if the trend is maintained. Of the two driver, Antonelli set the fastest lap for Merc, so you'd expect the Merc to be faster still.

But this is of course needs to be looked at in context of the wider data, it's just one of the lenses, but based on what I've seen, Red Bull, Merc and Mclaren are in the fight for pole, for me, Ferrari aren't quite as in it as it looks but they might well jump forward.

[FittingMechanics]

Was Lando running the same long run plan as Oscar? Their times are very different

Norris only did one or two laps, stuck behind Tsunoda

Norris radioed to the engineer right before Tsunoda crashed: "Tell me how long you want me to sit here".

My guess is that he wasn't trying to overtake Tsunora (if he had the ability) and that they were testing tire deg/heat behind another car.

[CjC]

I have no doubt it’s going to be a tight in quali, just listening to the Mclaren drivers would suggest the same too.

@Emag, in relation to fantasising on the forum- the only scenario that holds any water is if the Mclaren drivers don’t deliver.
The constant ‘the PU is turned way down’ ‘they can’t be that fast- it must be low fuel’ ‘this is a low deg track’ I even read yesterday someone say that now we are heading into the cooler track temperatures of the nighttime FP2 in SAUDI ARABIA we’ll see similar track temps as in Japan earlier this year.
I wish members would just consider the vast amount of information that eventually becomes available to us on a Friday before posting their comments.

[mwillems]

Mclaren tend to run a faster profile on the Friday than many but top speed will impact race runs less.

Looking at the long runs and yikes, Red Bull and Merc are damn fast, Red Bull more scary than merc in my opinion, with Ferrari not far behind, but I'm not sure if they are hiding their pace. Red Bull and Ferraris later laps on the Meds were 10+ laps old so RB in particular looking fast in the race runs (Dependant on fuel, engine, recovery mode etc...)

Plenty of setup changes to come for FP3 and Q though and we all know how much it can swing. I have to agree with emag though, on race pace, this is as tight as it has appeared after an FP2 and I have to say, it looks like we may not be the fastest on race pace.

Qualy will be super important. but, with that all said, it's only Friday and it can all turn around so quickly, so best not to get into the Friday data too much.

[Mcl_G10]

As I expected this weekend looks to be the closest across the top 4 teams so far. I think as the season progresses the top 4 will really converge on total performance and from imola or Spain onwards it really will be a lottery from week to week as to who will win each GP.

It is therefore vital that we hoover up as many driver championship points as possible right now. A P1/P2 this weekend is much needed for the drivers standings to create a little buffer before things really even out.