Arriving at the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren was already under the spotlight following its impressive long-run performance during pre-season testing in Bahrain, despite Lando Norris’s efforts to downplay expectations.
Everybody seemed to agree during the Bahrain test, that McLaren is the 2025 favourite – and the Australian Grand Prix proves them right.
Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri locked out the front row in qualifying’s sweltering conditions. While rivals struggled with overheating tyres and fading grip, the McLaren drivers kept their soft tyres alive through the final sector.
Then, during a wet and challenging race, Max Verstappen’s early push to catch Norris quickly fizzled out as the Red Bull driver’s intermediate tyres began to degrade, leaving the McLaren to pull away.
However, McLaren’s edge in Australia wasn’t simply about having the fastest car or the most downforce – traits often associated with dominant machines.
Instead, it became clear that the real advantage came from something else, a factor that played a key role in qualifying and the race.
Horner’s speculations about McLaren’s force
Christian Horner’s comments have fueled speculation about whether McLaren benefits from a flexible rear wing trick — a so-called mini-DRS effect — that could provide downforce and straight-line speed advantages, helping with tyre management.
FIA’s upcoming checks at the Chinese GP may reveal if this is contributing to McLaren’s newfound strength.
However, the situation has left rival teams puzzled. Cars that protect tyres will often struggle with a warm-up, but McLaren seems to have mastered both aspects.
In a post-race interview, Horner also noted, “What’s strange is they enjoy great warm-up and low degradation. Usually, one comes at the expense of the other.”
Verstappen, who already said that Red Bull is ‘anywhere near’ McLaren, admitted after the race: “As soon as the tyres started to overheat, we had no chance. McLaren just took off. We have a lot of work to do to fight for wins.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff echoed the sentiment, noting that McLaren’s mechanical setup allowed them to extract more from the tyres. “We have to analyse what we can do to manage the tyre better. We’re not missing 20 points of downforce — it’s about keeping the tyres in the sweet spot,” he said.
Andrea Stella and Lando Norris’ verdict
F1 McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed that tyre management was one of the key development targets over the winter, and the team has exceeded its expectations.
“We gave ourselves technical targets with aerodynamic efficiency and mechanical improvements. The car’s gentle interaction with the tyres was crucial today — it allowed us to build that gap in the first stint.”
Nevertheless, even Norris knows this advantage might not hold everywhere.
Tracks like Las Vegas, where low grip and front-end issues exposed McLaren’s weaknesses last year, remain a concern.
“I think we’ll have circuits where we’ll struggle,” Norris admitted in post-race interviews. “We’ve made the car more balanced, but there are still areas we need to improve. We came out strong in Bahrain with a high-fuel pace, but on low-fuel, we still lagged behind others. We know the work ahead.”
Martin Brundle already thinks McLaren will have ‘a season-long problem’ with both drivers determined to win, so we’ll see who will receive the star treatment.
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