2025 McLaren F1 Team

[ringo]

Let's not kid ourselves. This Lando Norris has nothing to do with that fantastic Lando Norris driver from the years 2019 to 2023. It's clear he has become worse. I don't know what's bothering him and he can't perform but it's infuriating to know he has the capabilities to be the fastest driver of this generation but is unable to.

Congratulations to Oscar Piastri for showing such a championship material performance once again. The cars are pretty much equal in one lap pace and Oscar is the driver that is making the difference and not the car.

Lando is all mental. He is the more talented to me and has the higher peak speed, but he is not as robust as Piastri.
Lando can get 100% but only with perfect mental condtion which seems to be only 60% of the time, while Piastri can get 95% (his laps aren't as perfect when he gets them in) but he is there 99% of the time mentally.
Lando can still turn things around, but he needs to change mindset some how.

[Slahinki]

I just realised some people have a preference over which driver wins the title. Honestly, I couldn't care less who wins, as long as it's a McLaren driver. My disappointment with Lando is that he's not putting the car where it belongs. Oscar could get taken out or have issues, he should be right up there to pick up the pieces.

I would prefere Lando.

I like the idea of someone coming through the system from young to champion, similar to Lewis.

I have no issues with Oscar clearly very talented and performing like a superstar. Just don't have the same connection.

Yeah same here, I'd be happy McLaren got a WDC if Piastri wins it. But if Lando wins it I'll be bloody extatic! Just the story itself is on a whole other level.

[FittingMechanics]

I'd prefer Lando to win for the same reason I preferred Alonso to win when paired against Hamilton. Piastri and Hamilton at the time will have easier time accepting losing to a teammate and then good chances in next years.

But at the end of the day, I am a team fan and I'm super happy if Piastri wins as well. Just maximize everything.

If it ends with Norris looking to leave, that would be unfortunate but McLaren would have their choice of top drivers in that case.

[GrizzleBoy]

I think people are just expecting Lando to show something he never had, and never actually had to show, to his own detriment.

There was almost no reason for him to have the amount of hype and accolades he's enjoyed during his time in F1. I say this all the time, but he's never actually done anything special in the sport.

His personality is lacking too, with quite a few statements and behaviours made in his time that are turning into one big plate of crow filled humble pie.

That said. He still has the speed and the car to end up P1 tomorrow and probably every race Sunday left on the calendar, but as I said he's never really shown that "thing".

[Ben1980]

I'd prefer Lando to win for the same reason I preferred Alonso to win when paired against Hamilton. Piastri and Hamilton at the time will have easier time accepting losing to a teammate and then good chances in next years.

But at the end of the day, I am a team fan and I'm super happy if Piastri wins as well. Just maximize everything.

If it ends with Norris looking to leave, that would be unfortunate but McLaren would have their choice of top drivers in that case.

My thought on it, is, I think Oscar beating Lando this year is easier for Lando to bounce back from for him than the other way.

If Oscar loses 3-0 in his first 3 years it starts to look bad. Not many lose 3 seasons in a row to the teammate and still go on to be a big name.

[Ben1980]

I think people are just expecting Lando to show something he never had, and never actually had to show, to his own detriment.

There was almost no reason for him to have the amount of hype and accolades he's enjoyed during his time in F1. I say this all the time, but he's never actually done anything special in the sport.

His personality is lacking too, with quite a few statements and behaviours made in his time that are turning into one big plate of crow filled humble pie.

That said. He still has the speed and the car to end up P1 tomorrow and probably every race Sunday left on the calendar, but as I said he's never really shown that "thing".

He'd come runner up in f2 in his one season, when he was 2 years younger than Russell and more than others. He was 17/18 years old?

And then started in f1 at 18? And was pretty good.

He may not be the next big thing, but he has been pretty good, and performed admirably

[Cs98]

Wow, that was an interesting cool down lap for NOR. as soon as he crossed the line, Will came over the radio and said "that was not cool, mate" and Lando replied "what do you mean, the lap?" and Will didn't reply to him or say anything else including confirming his position until parc ferme. Hope all is well there and FIA just didn't transmit all the radio

Lando backed out of his lap just before the finish line. He does something on the steering wheel and suddenly the car stops accelerating, losing him several tenths. I think that's why his engineer said that. I think there may be a bit of drama brewing there, Lando has been on edge about the car all week and was clearly not happy with how Q3 ended.

[Emag]

Wow, that was an interesting cool down lap for NOR. as soon as he crossed the line, Will came over the radio and said "that was not cool, mate" and Lando replied "what do you mean, the lap?" and Will didn't reply to him or say anything else including confirming his position until parc ferme. Hope all is well there and FIA just didn't transmit all the radio

Lando backed out of his lap just before the finish line. He does something on the steering wheel and suddenly the car stops accelerating, losing him several tenths. I think that's why his engineer said that. I think there may be a bit of drama brewing there, Lando has been on edge about the car all week and was clearly not happy with how Q3 ended.

He did back off, however drivers have a delta in their steering wheel. Lando would have known he wasn't going to improve so it didn't matter anyway. Last two corners were weak, although the advantage was lost after the chicane already.

[Cs98]

Wow, that was an interesting cool down lap for NOR. as soon as he crossed the line, Will came over the radio and said "that was not cool, mate" and Lando replied "what do you mean, the lap?" and Will didn't reply to him or say anything else including confirming his position until parc ferme. Hope all is well there and FIA just didn't transmit all the radio

Lando backed out of his lap just before the finish line. He does something on the steering wheel and suddenly the car stops accelerating, losing him several tenths. I think that's why his engineer said that. I think there may be a bit of drama brewing there, Lando has been on edge about the car all week and was clearly not happy with how Q3 ended.

He did back off, however drivers have a delta in their steering wheel. Lando would have known he wasn't going to improve so it didn't matter anyway. Last two corners were weak, although the advantage was lost after the chicane already.

I'm trying to understand why his engineer confronted him like that, the only plausible explanation I can think of is that he backed out right before the line. He wouldn't say that just because of a bad lap.

[mwillems]

Lando backed out of his lap just before the finish line. He does something on the steering wheel and suddenly the car stops accelerating, losing him several tenths. I think that's why his engineer said that. I think there may be a bit of drama brewing there, Lando has been on edge about the car all week and was clearly not happy with how Q3 ended.

He did back off, however drivers have a delta in their steering wheel. Lando would have known he wasn't going to improve so it didn't matter anyway. Last two corners were weak, although the advantage was lost after the chicane already.

I'm trying to understand why his engineer confronted him like that, the only plausible explanation I can think of is that he backed out right before the line. He wouldn't say that just because of a bad lap.

It's curious, but also the change in tone towards Lando. Stella seems more willing to not defend his mistakes quite as much, this year.

[Nicktendo86]

He did back off, however drivers have a delta in their steering wheel. Lando would have known he wasn't going to improve so it didn't matter anyway. Last two corners were weak, although the advantage was lost after the chicane already.

I'm trying to understand why his engineer confronted him like that, the only plausible explanation I can think of is that he backed out right before the line. He wouldn't say that just because of a bad lap.

It's curious, but also the change in tone towards Lando. Stella seems more willing to not defend his mistakes quite as much, this year.

Keep an eye on Zak. He is ruthless and if he feels Lando becomes more of a liability than an asset and there is someone else available he will make a change.

[CjC]

I'm trying to understand why his engineer confronted him like that, the only plausible explanation I can think of is that he backed out right before the line. He wouldn't say that just because of a bad lap.

It's curious, but also the change in tone towards Lando. Stella seems more willing to not defend his mistakes quite as much, this year.

Keep an eye on Zak. He is ruthless and if he feels Lando becomes more of a liability than an asset and there is someone else available he will make a change.

Like the phone call to Max’s management?

The fastest drivers want to drive the fastest cars, the fastest team want the fastest driver….

[mwillems]

I'm trying to understand why his engineer confronted him like that, the only plausible explanation I can think of is that he backed out right before the line. He wouldn't say that just because of a bad lap.

It's curious, but also the change in tone towards Lando. Stella seems more willing to not defend his mistakes quite as much, this year.

Keep an eye on Zak. He is ruthless and if he feels Lando becomes more of a liability than an asset and there is someone else available he will make a change.

He would be, but they all do that anyway. Same as Lando getting an offer from Red Bull. I think they all talk. Sometimes its so they can get another driver, or to push the price down on the one they are maybe renewing, sometimes for mischief or just to keep channels open.

[Seanspeed]

I think people are just expecting Lando to show something he never had, and never actually had to show, to his own detriment.

There was almost no reason for him to have the amount of hype and accolades he's enjoyed during his time in F1. I say this all the time, but he's never actually done anything special in the sport.

His personality is lacking too, with quite a few statements and behaviours made in his time that are turning into one big plate of crow filled humble pie.

That said. He still has the speed and the car to end up P1 tomorrow and probably every race Sunday left on the calendar, but as I said he's never really shown that "thing".

I think especially during Covid, I paid a bit more attention to Lando and his Twitch streaming and sim racing and he honestly just came across like your typical super annoying young streamer type. Loud and immature and just with nothing actually interesting or funny to say. Obviously not the worst things in the world, but compared to like Max or Leclerc who were also doing similar things at the time, Lando really stood out as like an annoying kid amongst them. So even personality-wise, I didn't find much reason to want to like Lando.

And I agree that Lando has not deserved the 'top driver' status that some people seem to have bizarrely given him. It's like people forget that Sainz was more competitive than him when they were teammates. He's good, perhaps bordering on great, but hasn't really done anything to deserve to be talked about among the absolute best.

[F1subman25]

Oscar just bossing it at the minute. Super focused, settled relationship, great manager, knows what he has to do.

Certainly made me shut up as I always thought Lando was 2-3 tenths quicker.