2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Xero]

I agree that Lando did a great job, but it was clear it was a gamble that worked out in his favour. My point is not that Lando should need to follow what Oscar does, I mean that Oscar should have been asked in the first stint what he wanted to do. Box to overtake Leclerc, or monitor what Lando does to cover his strategy first and then try to get Charles later in the race? It was clear what his choice was when he was finally asked, so there is no doubt he would have gone for the same strategy as Lando if it was offered. But the team decided Leclerc was the priority at that point for Oscar, and then Lando could do what he wanted as he had nothing to lose. I think they should review that for the future, that’s all. Anyway, it was of course more entertaining for us viewers as it panned out. And what a fantastic run the team is on!

Thanks for clarifying. Oscar definitely did get to make those calls. He closed in on Leclerc and with Lando stuck in P4 at that point, the thoughts of covering him off would have been premature. He was 100% looking to jump Leclerc for the win. It was only really after he got stuck behind him in the 2nd stint that the conversation and opportunity for Lando unfolded. Had Oscar got past Leclerc he would have breezed to an easy win.

I agree with you though, as the season unfolds more of those types of decisions will change to a more conservative approach. Problem is, the driver in front has first call and will have to make the first move, the second driver can always react and adapt, just like today. It's good we're already seeing per-car strategy calls, we're going to see some serious chess play!

[Tvetovnato]

I agree that Lando did a great job, but it was clear it was a gamble that worked out in his favour. My point is not that Lando should need to follow what Oscar does, I mean that Oscar should have been asked in the first stint what he wanted to do. Box to overtake Leclerc, or monitor what Lando does to cover his strategy first and then try to get Charles later in the race? It was clear what his choice was when he was finally asked, so there is no doubt he would have gone for the same strategy as Lando if it was offered. But the team decided Leclerc was the priority at that point for Oscar, and then Lando could do what he wanted as he had nothing to lose. I think they should review that for the future, that’s all. Anyway, it was of course more entertaining for us viewers as it panned out. And what a fantastic run the team is on!

Thanks for clarifying. Oscar definitely did get to make those calls. He closed in on Leclerc and with Lando stuck in P4 at that point, the thoughts of covering him off would have been premature. He was 100% looking to jump Leclerc for the win. It was only really after he got stuck behind him in the 2nd stint that the conversation and opportunity for Lando unfolded. Had Oscar got past Leclerc he would have breezed to an easy win.

I agree with you though, as the season unfolds more of those types of decisions will change to a more conservative approach. Problem is, the driver in front has first call and will have to make the first move, the second driver can always react and adapt, just like today. It's good we're already seeing per-car strategy calls, we're going to see some serious chess play!

Yes, and I know it's difficult to take those decisions on the fly, and sometimes one driver will benefit as today. But I know that if I was Oscar, I would for sure ask for clarifications regarding this going forward, and I would expect if the roles were reversed going forward that the leading driver will always go for the race win rather than looking at what the other driver will do.

And yes, fully agree, it's getting really exciting, and we should be very grateful that there are two so evenly matched team mates that we get this excitement! Can't wait for Zandvoort

[Slahinki]

The teams race was to try and win the race. It should not have been about one driver covering another. If Oscar wanted to long it out to cover Lando, and ignore Leclerc or even Russell, then he needs a rethink.

Team comes first, trying to win comes first.

Completely agree. If we have drivers that don't want to race to win, but only care about finishing ahead of their team mate, they can go do that at another team.

The team goes racing to win Grands Prix, end of.

[Seanspeed]

LOL WUT. I'm as pro McLaren as it gets but it's ludicrous to claim Massa didn't do a good job in 2008

There's nothing ludicrous about suggesting that Felipe Massa was in a whole lower class of driver compared to somebody like Lewis Hamilton. Which was proven out quite well when Massa was annihilated by Fernando Alonso.

You're absolutely ignoring the fact that Massa post 2009 was, by his own admission, not the same driver as before his brain injury.

And you're ignoring that pre-2009 Massa was also not very impressive outside the mythological two years in title-capable Ferrari's after Schumacher left. He was routinely beaten by his teammates.

If you want to argue that Felipe Massa was a genuine Lewis Hamilton-level driver(aka one of the best to ever do it), go ahead, just dont be surprised if I laugh well and hard. It's an absolute joke. Can you imagine a driver of young Hamilton's caliber being dropped by Sauber?

[PikeStance]

Another great McLaren 1-2. Norris did today what he couldn't do at Spa. We inch closer to securing a second title in a row. We are also one step closer to a McLaren driver's championship as well.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

There's nothing ludicrous about suggesting that Felipe Massa was in a whole lower class of driver compared to somebody like Lewis Hamilton. Which was proven out quite well when Massa was annihilated by Fernando Alonso.

You're absolutely ignoring the fact that Massa post 2009 was, by his own admission, not the same driver as before his brain injury.

And you're ignoring that pre-2009 Massa was also not very impressive outside the mythological two years in title-capable Ferrari's after Schumacher left. He was routinely beaten by his teammates.

If you want to argue that Felipe Massa was a genuine Lewis Hamilton-level driver(aka one of the best to ever do it), go ahead, just dont be surprised if I laugh well and hard. It's an absolute joke. Can you imagine a driver of young Hamilton's caliber being dropped by Sauber?

Do not put words into my mouth. You're using the performance of Massa post 2009 to argue what his performance pre-2009 was like without acknowledging the life changing accident he had in between.

I never said he was on the same level as Hamilton. However I out more weight behind the opinion of a certain M Schumacher who at the time rated him very highly over someone who ignores relevant information in order to make a biased argument.

I shall not "laugh well and hard" if you respond in a way that uses reason and logic, rather than emotions and opinion. I don't feel laughing at someone who has a different opinion to be respectful or acceptable behaviour in a civilised society.

[Ben1980]

Why are people talking about Massa?

He was likely robbed, but not sure i care much.

[GrizzleBoy]

If you have two drivers racing for a WDC with no other team being remotely in with a chance, I think it's stupid to allow split strategies that can allow the slower driver to luck into wins.

Doesn't make for a good WDC battle if big championship point swings happen because the pitwall is pissing in the wind.

Especially if it's very close at the end of the season.

Especially considering only one year prior the team made Lando hand back a place to Oscar for a win because the team allowed Lando to overtake on strategy and not on track.

Just looks a bit --- imo. For Lando also. Celebrating wins where he was handed track position on a track where all that matters is track position.

As we saw with Max and Lewis, the only way to get it done is with a massive speed difference which is difficult in the same team or throwing the car in and hoping it sticks, which is actually a pisstake of a position to put a driver in who did all the right things to deserve to win the race.

[FittingMechanics]

That ship has sailed. It seems that drivers and their engineers decided to treat this as two separate teams and can call their own strategies.

Not sure I agree because this will lead them into suboptimal strategies against other teams. But it is probably only way to avoid constant talks of favoritism (just imagine if Stella picked their strategies).

In Hungary 2024 reason Norris gave back the position is that he was second on the road but he was given priority to pit because he was protecting against car behind him that was trying to undercut him. This led to Norris overtaking Piastri by undercut. If McLaren didn't pit Norris first then the car undercutting (don't remember who) would have overtaken Norris and we'd get 1-3 instead of 1-2 that ended up happening.

All Piastri fans need to remember that he will not be the car ahead in each race, imagine if he was forced to follow Norris strategy each time he was at a disadvantage.

[AR3-GP]

That ship has sailed. It seems that drivers and their engineers decided to treat this as two separate teams and can call their own strategies.

Not sure I agree because this will lead them into suboptimal strategies against other teams. But it is probably only way to avoid constant talks of favoritism (just imagine if Stella picked their strategies).

That's not what happened. Lando contingent has a hangup with saying he was handed a win by the team because some want to think he can beat Oscar on merit.

What happened is simple. Ferrari's smoke and mirrors show put pressure on Mclaren. Oscar couldn't pass Leclerc on track. Mclaren was fearing that they would actually lose the race so they used Oscar as bait to lure in Ferrari and then put Lando on the 1 stop. Each driver was just a passenger. Mclaren would have done the same if the order of the cars were flipped (Lando 2 stop, Oscar 1-stop). The objective was to win the race. They were not concerned about which Mclaren finished in front of the other. From Oscar's point of view, he was was robbed, plain and simple. For Mclaren, they got a 1-2, the drivers can suck it up.

One day Lando will be the one who is robbed.

[Watto]

I think its all you're damned if you do damned if you don't sate strategy and if Charge won its why didn't you split strategies split them and its unfair on one driver. Oscar and his engineer discussed a one stop strategy they also discussed covering Charles or Lando.. Nothing to see here to me

He didn't really even put Charles under any pressure in the first 2 stints that may have put pressure on Lando, and I think as above too were probably spooked a little by Ferrari.


Lando had a near faultless race and deserved the win.

[PikeStance]

That ship has sailed. It seems that drivers and their engineers decided to treat this as two separate teams and can call their own strategies.

Not sure I agree because this will lead them into suboptimal strategies against other teams. But it is probably only way to avoid constant talks of favoritism (just imagine if Stella picked their strategies).

That's not what happened. Lando contingent has a hangup with saying he was handed a win by the team because some want to think he can beat Oscar on merit.

What happened is simple. Ferrari's smoke and mirrors show put pressure on Mclaren. Oscar couldn't pass Leclerc on track. Mclaren was fearing that they would actually lose the race so they used Oscar as bait to lure in Ferrari and then put Lando on the 1 stop. Each driver was just a passenger. Mclaren would have done the same if the order of the cars were flipped (Lando 2 stop, Oscar 1-stop). The objective was to win the race. They were not concerned about which Mclaren finished in front of the other. From Oscar's point of view, he was was robbed, plain and simple. For Mclaren, they got a 1-2, the drivers can suck it up.

One day Lando will be the one who is robbed.

The one-stop was a Hail Mary strategy. It was the only chance for Norris to compete for the win. Piastri's strategy worked as well. He was able to overtake LeClerc. If you take Norris' Hail Mary out of the equation, then Piastri would have won the race. Norris was either going to finish fourth, first, or second. No risk, high reward. McLaren 1-2. End of story. Neither driver was compromised.

Best advice,... never be a fan of any specific driver. Be a team supporter. Drivers come and go. Teams tend to stick around. In the end, F1 is a team sport and the drivers are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the pawns, but not the King or Queen either.

[AR3-GP]

That ship has sailed. It seems that drivers and their engineers decided to treat this as two separate teams and can call their own strategies.

Not sure I agree because this will lead them into suboptimal strategies against other teams. But it is probably only way to avoid constant talks of favoritism (just imagine if Stella picked their strategies).

That's not what happened. Lando contingent has a hangup with saying he was handed a win by the team because some want to think he can beat Oscar on merit.

What happened is simple. Ferrari's smoke and mirrors show put pressure on Mclaren. Oscar couldn't pass Leclerc on track. Mclaren was fearing that they would actually lose the race so they used Oscar as bait to lure in Ferrari and then put Lando on the 1 stop. Each driver was just a passenger. Mclaren would have done the same if the order of the cars were flipped (Lando 2 stop, Oscar 1-stop). The objective was to win the race. They were not concerned about which Mclaren finished in front of the other. From Oscar's point of view, he was was robbed, plain and simple. For Mclaren, they got a 1-2, the drivers can suck it up.

One day Lando will be the one who is robbed.

The one-stop was a Hail Mary strategy. It was the only chance for Norris to compete for the win. Piastri's strategy worked as well. He was able to overtake LeClerc. If you take Norris' Hail Mary out of the equation, then Piastri would have won the race. Norris was either going to finish fourth, first, or second. No risk, high reward. McLaren 1-2. End of story. Neither driver was compromised.

Best advice,... never be a fan of any specific driver. Be a team supporter. Drivers come and go. Teams tend to stick around. In the end, F1 is a team sport and the drivers are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the pawns, but not the King or Queen either.

Mclaren already made their decision for Lando's 1 stop before Leclerc's pace fell off a cliff. Oscar couldn't overtake Leclerc until that moment. If not for that, Piastri wasn't passing Leclerc and Lando's 1 stop was their only chance to win the race. In my view, it didn't have anything to do with the drivers being independent. Mclaren just played their cards because they had 2 cars and Ferrari had 1. They are still sore about how Japan played out where they won nothing because they forced each driver on to the same strategy.

[Watto]

That ship has sailed. It seems that drivers and their engineers decided to treat this as two separate teams and can call their own strategies.

Not sure I agree because this will lead them into suboptimal strategies against other teams. But it is probably only way to avoid constant talks of favoritism (just imagine if Stella picked their strategies).

That's not what happened. Lando contingent has a hangup with saying he was handed a win by the team because some want to think he can beat Oscar on merit.

What happened is simple. Ferrari's smoke and mirrors show put pressure on Mclaren. Oscar couldn't pass Leclerc on track. Mclaren was fearing that they would actually lose the race so they used Oscar as bait to lure in Ferrari and then put Lando on the 1 stop. Each driver was just a passenger. Mclaren would have done the same if the order of the cars were flipped (Lando 2 stop, Oscar 1-stop). The objective was to win the race. They were not concerned about which Mclaren finished in front of the other. From Oscar's point of view, he was was robbed, plain and simple. For Mclaren, they got a 1-2, the drivers can suck it up.

One day Lando will be the one who is robbed.

The one-stop was a Hail Mary strategy. It was the only chance for Norris to compete for the win. Piastri's strategy worked as well. He was able to overtake LeClerc. If you take Norris' Hail Mary out of the equation, then Piastri would have won the race. Norris was either going to finish fourth, first, or second. No risk, high reward. McLaren 1-2. End of story. Neither driver was compromised.

Best advice,... never be a fan of any specific driver. Be a team supporter. Drivers come and go. Teams tend to stick around. In the end, F1 is a team sport and the drivers are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the pawns, but not the King or Queen either.

As AR4 GP said though Oscar was unable to overtake Charles until the fault with their car appeared losing 2s a laps. Before that he didn't even put a tend in Charles lead on track the undercut really closed the gap after the 1st stop and opened up after the 2nd stop.

Oscar said post race it was probably a bit of a mistake to react to Ferrari there. But I think it was a sign too that I don't think it was when Oscar/McLaren would have liked to if they had a choice. Perhaps some of that is in hindsight if Oscar won they played it well he didn't and....



Norriss was a bit of a Hail Mary I agree. It was his only chance really to win but he pulled it off well.

[PikeStance]

That's not what happened. Lando contingent has a hangup with saying he was handed a win by the team because some want to think he can beat Oscar on merit.

What happened is simple. Ferrari's smoke and mirrors show put pressure on Mclaren. Oscar couldn't pass Leclerc on track. Mclaren was fearing that they would actually lose the race so they used Oscar as bait to lure in Ferrari and then put Lando on the 1 stop. Each driver was just a passenger. Mclaren would have done the same if the order of the cars were flipped (Lando 2 stop, Oscar 1-stop). The objective was to win the race. They were not concerned about which Mclaren finished in front of the other. From Oscar's point of view, he was was robbed, plain and simple. For Mclaren, they got a 1-2, the drivers can suck it up.

One day Lando will be the one who is robbed.

The one-stop was a Hail Mary strategy. It was the only chance for Norris to compete for the win. Piastri's strategy worked as well. He was able to overtake LeClerc. If you take Norris' Hail Mary out of the equation, then Piastri would have won the race. Norris was either going to finish fourth, first, or second. No risk, high reward. McLaren 1-2. End of story. Neither driver was compromised.

Best advice,... never be a fan of any specific driver. Be a team supporter. Drivers come and go. Teams tend to stick around. In the end, F1 is a team sport and the drivers are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the pawns, but not the King or Queen either.

Mclaren already made their decision for Lando's 1 stop before Leclerc's pace fell off a cliff. Oscar couldn't overtake Leclerc until that moment. If not for that, Piastri wasn't passing Leclerc and Lando's 1 stop was their only chance to win the race. In my view, it didn't have anything to do with the drivers being independent. Mclaren just played their cards because they had 2 cars and Ferrari had 1. They are still sore about how Japan played out where they won nothing because they forced each driver on to the same strategy.

McLaren with Piastri were attempting the undercut. It didn't work. It required a two-stop race. Once Norris was stuck behind Russel, the one-stop attempt was the only strategy to attempt. Piastri was already on a two-stopper.
I would not assume that Piastri couldn't overtake LeClerc because he didn't earlier. If everything can be decided within 25 laps, then we wouldn't bother with 70 laps. Anyway, McLaren isn't playing any favorites; that's BS- amazing only fools are fans of specific drivers who think that nonsense.