2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

I think it's really clear, and has been for some time, that if their is any advantage to being a works team, that it is almost immaterial.

Further to this, Mclaren are happy that they feel they are listened to beyond what the regs require.

Clearly the idea, that has been held onto by many esteemed posters on here for years, is largely b*ll*cks.

[the EDGE]

Wednesday cannot come quick enough!

[mwillems]

Yes it can.

#ArgumentClinic.

Kudos if you get that without Google.

[CjC]

Wednesday cannot come quick enough!

The starting day for 3 weeks of debating over whom is binding the most pace

[organic]

Wednesday cannot come quick enough!

The starting day for 3 weeks of debating over whom is binding the most pace

It's always pretty obvious during testing which teams are happy/disappointed though. In 22 everyone knew Ferrari were very happy, red bull too. In 23 everyone knew AMR had made a huge leap but that RB was the benchmark and Ferrari/Merc had messed up. And in 24 it was clear red bull were thrilled and Ferrari quietly happy, Merc not so happy. And these trends were reflected in the early season results

But yes there's usually a lot of debate about relative pace. Personally I prefer to focus on the vibes

[mwillems]

I'm still very interested to see a good side profile of the car next to the 38. You can't tell fully, but some of the image seem to suggest the wheel is placed slightly more forward of the suspension and that the wheel is being "leaned" upon a little more.

I'm also curious to see if the front wheel is not a little further away from the sidepods or the suspension mounted a little further back on the chassis.

[mwillems]

Anyone seen this before?

The MCL39 is at the minimum weight for these regs and have been for a few years.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... ification/

[Macklaren]

Anyone seen this before?

The MCL39 is at the minimum weight for these regs and have been for a few years.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... ification/

so you're telling me all this black in the livery is a CHOICE?

[the EDGE]

Anyone seen this before?

The MCL39 is at the minimum weight for these regs and have been for a few years.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... ification/

so you're telling me all this black in the livery is a CHOICE?

The short answer is yes, even Alpine and Williams are now hitting the minimum weight limit.

That said, teams ideally want to be well under the minimum weight limit, which allows them to use ballast to balance the car according to the circuit

So how much under the weight limit is a question which we will never know the answer to, but either way, I’m sure there is enough in it to allow them to wrap the whole car if they chose to

[Slahinki]

Anyone seen this before?

The MCL39 is at the minimum weight for these regs and have been for a few years.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... ification/

so you're telling me all this black in the livery is a CHOICE?

The short answer is yes, even Alpine and Williams are now hitting the minimum weight limit.

That said, teams ideally want to be well under the minimum weight limit, which allows them to use ballast to balance the car according to the circuit

So how much under the weight limit is a question which we will never know the answer to, but either way, I’m sure there is enough in it to allow them to wrap the whole car if they chose to

As we've seen them do with their special liveries.

[CjC]

Anyone seen this before?

The MCL39 is at the minimum weight for these regs and have been for a few years.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... ification/

so you're telling me all this black in the livery is a CHOICE?

The short answer is yes, even Alpine and Williams are now hitting the minimum weight limit.

That said, teams ideally want to be well under the minimum weight limit, which allows them to use ballast to balance the car according to the circuit

So how much under the weight limit is a question which we will never know the answer to, but either way, I’m sure there is enough in it to allow them to wrap the whole car if they chose to

I said something similar last week, in the team thread I believe.

Mclaren are choosing to have minimal paint for more ballast for maximum performance- which I’m totally happy with.

[mwillems]

They've been under for a while, including last year when the limit was 2kg less. I suspect they have more than enough for ballast. The idea that this amount of bare carbon is not for weight saving is shocking but seemingly true.

But at least it's official and not under any doubt.

[CjC]

They've been under for a while, including last year when the limit was 2kg less. I suspect they have more than enough for ballast. The idea that this amount of bare carbon is not for weight saving is shocking but seemingly true.

But at least it's official and not under any doubt.

It’s for 0.001 of a second in lap time

[Seanspeed]

No they don’t have equal footing, but they wouldn’t say McLaren has some input on the design phase if that wasn’t true to some degree, which what the guy was denying.

In any case, this was McLaren’s best choice. They get one of the power units which will likely be close to the best, if not the best, while also having more input than a normal customer.

They considered RBPT for a short while, but RBPT is way too inexperienced and I doubt they will be competitive in 2026, whereas a Ferrari-powered McLaren will never happen.

The only other option was to develop it themselves like RedBull, but it’s too late for that. It could be a consideration for the next reg cycle, assuming McLaren keeps an upward trend.

The guy wasn't denying that, though. Only arguing about the degree to which it was actually true. Because this is all about nuance and degrees of truth, if you yourself even agree that they aren't on equal footing. You simply side on the collaboration being much stronger, while the other person believing the collaboration being less strong. You're not fundamentally disagreeing on the core argument here, which you've been trying to portray them as doing, and the only reason I felt like speaking up.

[Emag]

No they don’t have equal footing, but they wouldn’t say McLaren has some input on the design phase if that wasn’t true to some degree, which what the guy was denying.

In any case, this was McLaren’s best choice. They get one of the power units which will likely be close to the best, if not the best, while also having more input than a normal customer.

They considered RBPT for a short while, but RBPT is way too inexperienced and I doubt they will be competitive in 2026, whereas a Ferrari-powered McLaren will never happen.

The only other option was to develop it themselves like RedBull, but it’s too late for that. It could be a consideration for the next reg cycle, assuming McLaren keeps an upward trend.

The guy wasn't denying that, though. Only arguing about the degree to which it was actually true. Because this is all about nuance and degrees of truth, if you yourself even agree that they aren't on equal footing. You simply side on the collaboration being much stronger, while the other person believing the collaboration being less strong. You're not fundamentally disagreeing on the core argument here, which you've been trying to portray them as doing, and the only reason I felt like speaking up.

They are a customer team whatever their PR department tells you.

First sentence of the original comment.

I have noticed you like to seemingly argue for the sake of arguing sometimes though, a symptom of wanting to get the last word no matter what. I have nothing to say beyond this point, however the original comment pretty clearly downplayed the level of cooperation to being almost non-existent beyond a simple customer and even reduced it to a PR agenda.