2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Ben1980]

Lando was falling behind Max even after passing Oscar.

I’m a Mclaren fan, but do any of you honestly believe Lando was going to do anything with Max on equal tires, at a “hard to overtake” track?

I would have wanted to have an opportunity to see if he can hold on and fight. This defeatist "he didn't have a chance so we sent him to get new tires to fight PIA and risk a crash" is lunacy.

What the team did today made no sense.
NOR is in P2, by pitting him for new hards you risk losing a position to ALB (he would have lost it if ALB didn't pit next lap), then you get NOR on new hards behind PIA on old hards, by not swapping you seriously increase risk of a crash between them.

I can understand that it reduced chances of both cars losing out due to tires, but at least do yourself a favor and not invite a crash between the two while at the same time, allowing VER to run away.

I can't wait until that Red Bull strategy guy comes into the team. I hope these type of decisions are gone when that happens.

Pitting Lando was an absolute no brain decision. He had the available tyres. Made total sense.

[Darth-Piekus]

Its ok. 2 and 3 is a good result. Max was lucky today but once we bring the upgrades it will be over.

You’re unbearable….

Get over it.

[proteus]

Neither of the drivers could have won today, but another great team result.

[Ken27]

Max would have won in the McLaren.

[Darth-Piekus]

Everything is okay. Both drivers did their best but Red Bull was the faster car today with the weather being cool enough to help their tyre preservation and got lucky with that VSC. Oscar made one mistake all year and lost one battle from Max. Big deal. He still won in all the other battles against him. People are blind if they think Oscar is not making the difference in the car.

[FittingMechanics]

Max would have won in the McLaren.

With a Red Bull strategy team.

McLaren continues to fail to maximize their chances. This happened last year as well. I understand it was always going to be hard to overtake Max here but with their strategy they didn't even get a chance of attempting it. If you keep doing it this way, you will lose out points.

This is what frustrates me. I can accept VER being better or having a better car, but I hate that the team doesn't maximize their opportunities because they are unwilling or unable.

Btw I think the only explanation is that they have collectively decided not to do these types of swaps. Perhaps it was discussed and PIA/NOR said they don't want to swap and the team has no contract clauses to force it. Or the clauses come into play only in certain situations (after a number of races or when the gap is above XY points).

[Ben1980]

Neither of the drivers could have won today, but another great team result.

Piastri should have won. He wins if he doesn't balls up the start.

[Ben1980]

Max would have won in the McLaren.

Well he wouldn't have had himself to overtake himself in the first corner.

Unless he is being cloned. Which is just as weird as your post.

[trinidefender]

Lucked into have 16 lap newer tires, but sure.

When you say lucked you mean knows how to save his tyres? Piastri wasn't able to save his tyres, had to pit earlier and then wasn't able to move through the field.

Norris got into the position of having a new set of hards to put on by virtue of his good driving. It's a prime example of that saying, "you make your own luck"

That’s not what happened

Oscar was on an undercut strategy.

He was forced onto an undercut strategy because max was dropping him. Norris burned tyres to get past Russel and then started to close the gap to piastri. Then when piastri pitted Norris kept slowly closing the gap to Verstappen (10.5 to 9.5 seconds).

I.e. Norris on more worn tyres was driving faster than piastri and Verstappen. So yes that is called saving your tyres and how Norris made his own luck

Norris still has an advantage in race pace.

[Darth-Piekus]

It's okay. Oscar made one wrong start and lost one battle. He will be back on top next race.

[Seerix]

Everything is okay. Both drivers did their best but Red Bull was the faster car today with the weather being cool enough to help their tyre preservation and got lucky with that VSC. Oscar made one mistake all year and lost one battle from Max. Big deal. He still won in all the other battles against him. People are blind if they think Oscar is not making the difference in the car.

Go rewatch AUS. You might want to refersh your pink glasses memory.

[trinidefender]

Just let them race.

The micromanaging makes F1 so stuffy.

Lando is struggling to get by Oscar on old tires. Does anyone think he has a chance against Max? Has Lando shown any ability yo out race Max without a large tire delta?

It's not whether someone thinks he will be able to. It's just giving him the chance to. You won't know if you don't try. As it was there was no point to pit Norris and risk something bad happening in the pit which almost happened for the same end result.

[Hoffman900]

Everything is okay. Both drivers did their best but Red Bull was the faster car today with the weather being cool enough to help their tyre preservation and got lucky with that VSC. Oscar made one mistake all year and lost one battle from Max. Big deal. He still won in all the other battles against him. People are blind if they think Oscar is not making the difference in the car.

Go rewatch AUS. You might want to refersh your pink glasses memory.

I don’t know if you can pin it starting to downpour while Oscar is mid corner on Oscar.

[Rikhart]

Max would have won in the McLaren.

He would probably have won all races so far, let's be honest.

[Darth-Piekus]

Everything is okay. Both drivers did their best but Red Bull was the faster car today with the weather being cool enough to help their tyre preservation and got lucky with that VSC. Oscar made one mistake all year and lost one battle from Max. Big deal. He still won in all the other battles against him. People are blind if they think Oscar is not making the difference in the car.

Go rewatch AUS. You might want to refersh your pink glasses memory.

You mean the same AUS where Oscar forced Max into a mistake? It's really okay. Nobody is perfect. Oscar will lose some battles and he will other battles just as Max will. He is still 5-2 in front of Max. I expected today the whole hyperbole narrative to start about Max overdriving his car but people have to be blind not to understand that Oscar is making the difference and not just his Mclaren. Mclaren was never dominant and it's time to start accepting that perhaps it's drivers are better than what people think.