2025 McLaren F1 Team

[billamend]

I would like to ask a question to all of you who follow McLaren closely... What is happening with Norris's race pace? He is clearly much slower than he was in the last two/three years. In previous years his race pace was much better than Piastri's. And so far, in the first three races Piastri seems to have had more pace overall. I don't think Piastri has improved that much, it seems to me that it was Norris who fell.

The car never suit his style, this year is even worse. Fast but an handful.

[mwillems]

I've had a chance to take a closer look and read Mark Hughes' race report and I was wrong to be critical of strategy in this case. The undercut wasn't on in the circumstances that McLaren were handed. The best chance turned out to be a faster pitstop. We didn't see Max's stop but it's said that it was 3.3 to Lando's 2.3 and we saw the result of that. If they had nailed the perfect 2.0 the pitlane pass would have just about been a reality.

In here, by and large, it isn't the undercut that was being talked about. It was about saving the push laps for clean air and making hay whilst Verstappen warmed his tyres and negotiates traffic.

The undercut would work once the cold tyres on Oscars car warmed up, so stretching the strategy would have mixed things up and put pressure on RB

[Ben1980]

Talk of Piastri having to pit to cover off Russel is wrong. Russel came out behind Alonso, Gasly and Tsunoda. When Piastri went to the pits he emerged about 4 seconds ahead of Russel and ahead of all three slower cars ahead of Russel (so ahead of ALO, GAS and TSU). Piastri could have waited for one more lap. In fact, Russel probably made quite a bad call because he emerged right behind that group.

If Norris went to pits one lap earlier, it's quite likely he would have undercut Verstappen.

Piastri couldn't undercut Norris, so not sure the undercut was much of an effect.

[Balalu]

On another note, just for perspective, Russell was much faster than Leclerc and he could not come close to overtaking him. That is Suzuka 2025 for you.

[CjC]

At least you can overtake in Bahrain

[Jurgen von Diaz]

Why didn't Norris overcut Verstappen? Papaya rules going into goofy mode; they had to protect Norris from his teammate. They gave the victory to Max so their drivers won't be sad if a teammate wins.

[Slahinki]

I would like to ask a question to all of you who follow McLaren closely... What is happening with Norris's race pace? He is clearly much slower than he was in the last two/three years. In previous years his race pace was much better than Piastri's. And so far, in the first three races Piastri seems to have had more pace overall. I don't think Piastri has improved that much, it seems to me that it was Norris who fell.

The car handles even further from Norris' preferences than previous years, so he has to adapt his driving style, again. Stella has said they are bringing updates to try and remedy it though.

[_cerber1]

It would be logical to bring the updates to Bahrain and compare them with what was tested. What news do we have on this?

[Emag]

It would be logical to bring the updates to Bahrain and compare them with what was tested. What news do we have on this?

Nothing, but you only have to wait a couple of days to find out

[Ben1980]

Why didn't Norris overcut Verstappen? Papaya rules going into goofy mode; they had to protect Norris from his teammate. They gave the victory to Max so their drivers won't be sad if a teammate wins.

Because the team thought it would be slower. It may also have risked him losing a place to a potential title rival.

[Ben1980]

I've had a chance to take a closer look and read Mark Hughes' race report and I was wrong to be critical of strategy in this case. The undercut wasn't on in the circumstances that McLaren were handed. The best chance turned out to be a faster pitstop. We didn't see Max's stop but it's said that it was 3.3 to Lando's 2.3 and we saw the result of that. If they had nailed the perfect 2.0 the pitlane pass would have just about been a reality.

If you are talking about "Russel undercut" that is just plain wrong. Piastri was not under threat.

How far behind was Russell when Piastri pitted?

[Emag]

Another thing to note, is that all races so far have had really low temps, which helps the deg of pretty much all cars, possibly nullifying whatever edge McLaren may have in that regard.
The last competitive session with track temps of ~40 degrees, was Australia Q3 and they were on pole by almost 4 tenths, with pretty much all of that difference made on 4 corners due to better tire condition at the end of the lap. So Bahrain will be interesting in this regard as well because it's gonna be really hot. If McLaren pulls the same sort of gap on everyone at S3 there, then that would kind of confirm a pattern.

[Mostlyeels]

Another thing to note, is that all races so far have had really low temps, which helps the deg of pretty much all cars, possibly nullifying whatever edge McLaren may have in that regard.
The last competitive session with track temps of ~40 degrees, was Australia Q3 and they were on pole by almost 4 tenths, with pretty much all of that difference made on 4 corners due to better tire condition at the end of the lap. So Bahrain will be interesting in this regard as well because it's gonna be really hot. If McLaren pulls the same sort of gap on everyone at S3 there, then that would kind of confirm a pattern.

I was thinking the same thing while reading one of the post-race comments. Deg seemed really low amongst the Medium runners, though I wasn't watching Hamilton's first stint times.

FWIW Stella's post-race interview says drivers need a 0.8s pace advantage to overtake, and tbh even that seems marginal to me.

[FittingMechanics]

I've had a chance to take a closer look and read Mark Hughes' race report and I was wrong to be critical of strategy in this case. The undercut wasn't on in the circumstances that McLaren were handed. The best chance turned out to be a faster pitstop. We didn't see Max's stop but it's said that it was 3.3 to Lando's 2.3 and we saw the result of that. If they had nailed the perfect 2.0 the pitlane pass would have just about been a reality.

If you are talking about "Russel undercut" that is just plain wrong. Piastri was not under threat.

How far behind was Russell when Piastri pitted?

Piastri emerged 4 seconds (and 3 cars) ahead of Russell. Russell couldn't slice through them. There was no real threat.

[BMMR61]

I would like to ask a question to all of you who follow McLaren closely... What is happening with Norris's race pace? He is clearly much slower than he was in the last two/three years. In previous years his race pace was much better than Piastri's. And so far, in the first three races Piastri seems to have had more pace overall. I don't think Piastri has improved that much, it seems to me that it was Norris who fell.

"clearly much slower than he was...." what evidence for that? You base your assumptions around his teammate. Piastri was always expected to grow with experience as his transition to F1 was very rapid, indeed he was marked as a "future Word Champion". Piastri worked on areas for improvement during the off season as he had underperformed, especially in the last quarter of the 2024 season. Norris in his seventh season of F1 is probably at or near his peak pace, Oscar starting his third is still refining his skills. There is evidence from McLaren personnel that the 2025 car may suit Lando's style less than before. As they say "don't ASSUME as it may make an ASS out of U and ME"! Both drivers are in a pretty good place for now.