Agree. They have a wining car but are still stuck with that midfield mentality. If they keep this up, after the season is over and they go back to review they will realize they had the potential to be WCC
This is why guys like Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen get paid 40M/ year. Without a GOAT tier driver even the best car isn't enough..especially when said GOAT tier driver is your competition.
Remember when Norris downplayed Hamilton record in 2020 saying that it's the car? Well McLaren's technically had the fastest car over the past 5 or so races and he's only executed one win. Verstappen and Hamilton may have been given dominant cars, but they've also made the difference. Norris will soon learn if he hasn't already.
@@nakki123 id blame team strategysts, you cant be asking the driver what to do, other bigger teams may ask for opinions, for they decide what to do like it the driver or not, and not doing doble stop in silverstone was a big ass mistake the team did and piastri paid for it
@@nercussa2299 what? drivers are always heavily involved with strategy, they always take part of the blame and their input is more important than anybody elses
I'd say you are exaggerating a fair bit, at least if you are just putting the tactical team and drivers from one of the other teams at McLaren through the year and not also putting the current upgrade packages performance level vs their rivals all the way back too - their car wasn't and probably isn't even now that good, so winning that many would require also being lucky. They should have won some of them for sure, and had the potential to win more but nothing more than potential - no matter who was in the car or on the pit wall its far too competitive at the front to just win that many, even if you did the weekend flawlessly...
@titancheat Definitely not. Alonso had a car that was sometimes half a second slower in qualifying. He literally would line up 6th-8th on the grid at times, Max has had the best car this year, and it shows in the constructors. Only reason the constructors is close is because Perez has been arguably the worst driver on the grid.
I think something that gets overlooked is Red Bull had to learn how to be perfect to beet Mercedes. That doesn't happen overnight. I do think McLaren has the fastest car right now, but not by enough to win without being nearly perfect outside the car.
They also had experience winning with the likes of Sebastian Vettel in a dominant manner and that was much more recent and applicable experience than Hamilton’s 08 title which was won by a hair
@@sleepypixie8828I feel like the top 4 teams strategy teams could be categorized like this. Red Bull - Proactive and reactive, mixing data and driver input, best in business Mercedes - cautious, conservative and data-driven, sometimes slow to react, but doesn't mess up often McLaren - indecisive, too focused on their rivals, not trusting their data and instincts. Sometimes good, but unreliable. Ferrari - communication is not only indecisive but unclear. Occasionally strategy is ok, but there is a high tendency for major mistakes or absurd risk taking.
I’m still unsure of how in a world of no magic bullets or transformative upgrades that is modern f1, McLaren have managed to turn around a dog of a car into front running one early/mid season twice. Seems against the odds to me.
Thinking back about Austria, I think Stella and Brown should’ve put the focus on their own performance. A lot of barking, playing with the big dogs, but one look in the mirror would’ve revealed they’re still a puppy. Less talking more thinking is key I guess.
They tried to stir up drama, trying to make Max and Red Bull the dirty driver who never learned from his 2021 title fight. Jokes on them, every drivers including Norris ended up defending Max from the media
McLaren are learning lessons that can only be learned racing at the front, so I expect their race craft to improve. At Silverstone the team left the final tire change up to Hamilton because Norris said "Do what Hamilton does."
That Merc have won two races to their one is a disappointing result from McLaren. Norris and Piastri could have but haven’t won so many races now. McLaren need to learn how to win again like Ferrari do. Redbull and Merc just raised the bar over their winning stints in a way that Ferrari and McLaren have yet to match
Had piastri not gone 1mm outside track limits in Austria Q3, he would have started 3rd and thus inherited the win after the top 2 crashed. Fine margins
It’s amazing how you can literally have one the strongest if not THE strongest car on the grid and there are so many important factors that help guarantee the victory. All the pieces must be aligned at one time and at the right moment consistently. McLaren can do it but they cannot afford to make little mistakes against the best I.e. Red Bull and max.
Their biggest single issue is more that car is only ever truly fastest in short bursts. 1 stint on 1 compound, they'll often be 3rd of 4th quickest on others. Which leaves too much work/luck with safety cars etc needed to undo the weak stints when they get onto the strong one and too much need to make that count then and there. The pace, whilst right there, is often slightly artificial given they are in full on attack mode chasing down the leader (usually Max) whilst they are often managing their pace. Silverstone is the only recent 1 you can really say they wasted a golden chance by making several messes with the strategy and tyre calls, and even then, was the McLaren REALLY any quicker than the Mercedes outside of that stint around the worst of the rain?
Yes. And they need to take a good look at how they prioritize their drivers. Don't care about all the Lando groupies, Piastri has so far showed more growth and aggression on the track. That needs to be exploited.
@@musiccd1896 apparently. the guy has completely turned mclaren around, but because of "Strategy" (something drivers are very involved in still and take blame for) he's still bad because "ferrari man"
Ferrari were good when he was there, and it took an Italian to turn a british race team into winners. maybe just maybe is the British engineers and strategist in the team that are not that great!
Check the onboards from Norris at Canada when the Safety Car was called. It's under 200m to pit entry when the SC boards light up. Should have had the "pit if SC deployed" message, but it was tighter than it is being made out to be
It wasn't so much as "light contact throwing the RedBull tyre off the rim", it was the spike on the back of the McLaren's from wing end plate that Norris clearly tagged Verstappen's tyre with as the RedBull slid past after the initial light contact.
Leclerc - Ferrari 2022 and Norris - McLaren 2024 really showed me, that it takes more than a good driver and a good car to battle for a championship. It takes at least a great driver with champion mentality and good car. Like Verstappen - RBR 2021
EXACTLY THIS! All this talk of a title fight but if mclaren are gonna keep up a winrate of 1 win in 7 races (in contention for the win) then they have no chance. Especially with max doing a stellar job carrying redbull by himself and mercs stealing points off mclaren. Not just that, but the way their team is run shows how they aren’t currently capable of fighting at the front whilst redbull and mercedes have been doing that for years. Their strategy calls need to be improved to a level that the other top teams are threatened, because right now they have the best car but a midfield mindset. Lando could have three more wins off the top of my head had they pitted him either a lap earlier or fit the right tyres.
Winning races in Formula 1 is so much harder than it looks. When you've got the complete package and the car is a cut above the rest then I suppose in some ways the wins are easier but this run that McLaren are on of throwing away wins reminds of Williams in 2014-15. Probably had the chance to win 8-10 races in that period with both Bottas and Massa and they couldn't convert any of them. I remember Rob Smedley saying at the time that they had to learn how to win again (sadly they never did). I think it's the same for McLaren. Let's be real they fluked that Miami victory (although Piastri was potentially on course to win anyway) and they're just learning how to win in Formula 1 again.
Norris has probably received more flack than deserved for the lack of wins - Canada and Silverstone were pretty much nothing to do with him, the penalty in Austria was sent Verstappen's way, and 4 times out of 5 that contact wouldn't have caused a double puncture. Imola he drove well and had no chance until the end. Spain was a poor start, but the rest of the race was nearly perfect. Looking at the timing graphic, Mclaren's car is consistent, but it's almost certainly not the quickest outright. The amount of people arguing that Piastri is a better driver than Norris is ridiculous too. Justifying it based on personality completely ignores the clear qualifying and race pace deficit that Piastri (currently) has.
It's easy to forget that this is only Piastri's 2nd year in F1. This is Norris' fifth year. Give Piastri another year or so of experience and he'll be beating Norris consistently imo.
Best car =/= dominant car. Mclaren was also the "best" throughout 2012 and still "bottled" it. Same with Ferrari in 1999, arguably Williams in 2003 and 1991, Ferrari in 2017, 2018 and 1982, not to say about all those years when Lotus did that etc etc. This is just how racing works. If everyone is competitive you can't talk about underachieving too much. Of course their main issue is their backmarker/midfield mindset from the "dark" days but it's just how racing and sports work. This is the season where 4 teams can be the best and have the best car at some stage realistically and we should cherish that
They could've won all of those tracks you mentioned but not easily also one of the characteristics of their car is that it gets faster at the end of stints, but it isn't that fast in the beginning
Them not pitting for the mediums was the most obvious howler I’ve seen in ages, my two year old knew to do that instead of the soft tyres which is mclarens weakest tyre
Lewis taking softs got into their heads. They thought they could keep position by using softs but failed to understand they cannot handle 20 laps on softs like Lewis cam.
McLaren are becoming the F1s equivalent of the England football team . A lack of proactiveness on the pit wall and driver errors are squandering win opportunities.
The race at Hungaroring displayed another bad call by McLaren switching Lando and Oscar! The driver's championship is still possible for Lando, yet McLaren is throwing it away. Was it a good display of sportsmanship? Maybe. But if Lando loses the Drivers Championship by 6 points or less, then McLaren is at fault and the team will commercially miss out. They need to be totally focused on hunting down the points deficit instead of playing favorites.
F1’s best car was, is and always will be theF2004 (imo). That beast was quick af, yes the 2020 merc was probably better but the f2004 did what it did on grooved tyres without drs aid and it was a V10 so it’s way cooler
At least this involves race finishes, and not the Kimi/Juan era of: Gearbox, Engine Failure, Suspension Failure, Gearbox, Hydraulics, Gearbox, Engine Failure oh and Gearbox
To be fair, when you’ve spent THAT long just trying not to come last, you forget how to strategy properly… it’s not your main focus when it makes no difference. Now, however, they’ve suddenly found themselves in a place where a bad tire strategy can make the difference, and they just need to catch up.
The fact is that immature attitudes and ambitions for winning the races do not help them. Patience is the key, and better strategy, and drivers are the key elements for winning the races I belive they are lacking at least one of these. Too many strategy and driver errors will not help them secure the win. Again, having a fast car does not mean you can win easily. Merc and RB proved again what is more important to win the races.
They're still yet to win a race on genuine pace in over a decade. Monza 2021 was won through being well placed to pick up Hamilton and Verstappen's scuffle, and Miami was won through a well timed safety car. They're missing that mindset that Merc and Red Bull have cultivated over the last 10 years from winning everything.
Of course they are wasting it, in exactly the same way Ferrari did in 2022, even refused a double stack at Silverstone like Ferrari. If Merc or Ferrari were squandering these chances they'd be crucified for it
Norris (and Brown) should stop being so cocky with their should've/would've/could've-s and keep their heads down while focusing on winning the races. They won a single race but act as if they've won the WDC.
If piastri was 1 mm inside track in austria quali, he would’ve been in third when max and lando crashed, and he would’ve won. If mclaren double stacked him and lando in silverstone, he would’ve won. (Lost 19-20 sec from not pitting that round, finished 12 sec off the lead)
McLaren strategist need to up the game. They are always asking Norris what he wants rather than giving him clear cut instructions. Norris doesn't have experience to make those calls just yet.
@@patepulkkinenvtec2403That’s not what happened. The pit wall told Lando way ahead of time what tires they have (all three compounds) and what tires Red Bull has (no mediums). He was also told what tires those drivers went to when they pitted. At the in lap, the team asked what Lando wanted, and he wasn’t sure. The team said his options were softs or hards if he wanted to match Lewis or Max. Lando said, “softs, or whatever, any slick tire.” It was such a clusterf*ck.
For as long as they are so pig headed on prioritising Lando and not focussing on the best result for the team, we will keep seeing repeats of Silverstone.
Ed, Mark, Gary, I have some fears about these new 2026 regs that I’d like to put to you. May just be me that sees it this way….. So, theoretically if you can drop top-body drag on the straights you can afford to pile top-body downforce on for the corners without the usual penalty on overall lap time. Best of both worlds if you will, but all based on top-body downforce. Monaco wings for the corners, Monza spec for the straights. My fear is that this would mean cars that can follow less well than they do now as the downforce split relies more on top-body downforce for ultimate lap time than they do currently. Plus, the leading car will drop the drag before the chasing car and will be accelerating away sooner. If the chasing car has already lost ground in the corner due to turbulent air it would seem that a serious power boost would be needed to catch up, a lot more than is currently planned. Red shells may be the only workable solution to this!
Piastri ALSO could've won the Austrian GP. If he didn't lose his Q3 time, he would've qualified 3rd and may have been in the box seat to take the lead once Norris and Verstappen took each other out. OR if he didn't lose so much time in the early phases he may have been close enough to get past Russell to win.
McLaren haven’t had a consistent front challenger since 2012. That combined with new management and team members they probably need time to understand how to get the 50/50 calls right.
I give Mclaren a pass. Since this is a bit of uncharted territory for them. In recent years they were barely a mid-filed team. And they have young drivers that have never been a win/podium threat. So lots to learn on everyone's part
I think McLaren has forgotten how to win. At Silverstone, they were too focus on wanting to respond to what there teams were doing (or thinking they might do) instead of setting the tone and being decisive.
Obviously yes. Arguably the only people within mclaren who are mature and decisive enough for a title battle is piastri and stallard, but piastri still has to get a hold of his tire management. The overall pitwall is not sharp or decisive enough and lando is not good enough under pressure. Compare that to red bull, max and GP, "We need to box for inters now" "Ok that was a good call" or "Box box max" "copy".
Driver feedback based on his experience and skill is also important. When switching from slicks to inters, Max ordered his engineer at the right time that eventually helped him in maintaining track position.
I agree, but asking about dry tires is too much for me, at Silverstone they shouldve just said box and put him on what they thought was, they had all the data at that point of the race. @@abnfalcon3901
They just need to find that winning mentality again. Brains stuck in midfield mode.
Agree. They have a wining car but are still stuck with that midfield mentality. If they keep this up, after the season is over and they go back to review they will realize they had the potential to be WCC
The problem is (L)ando 😂
@@Rhoki11no
@@Rhoki11 If the problem were just Lando, Oscar would surely excel, and not be 9-3 in race finishes.
@@Rhoki11 NO! The problem is the team. they are even f***king up Oscar's race.
I feel like the Norris only one win memes are going to start appearing soon
Norris is weak.
Lando Nowins
(It’s the No Homers club principle, you’re allowed one)
@@therealquaid1694 weak is a strong word i would say he is immature
Pretty sure its now lando throwwins norris 😂
Keeping the current form it's only a matter of time till he wins again
This is why guys like Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen get paid 40M/ year. Without a GOAT tier driver even the best car isn't enough..especially when said GOAT tier driver is your competition.
Remember when Norris downplayed Hamilton record in 2020 saying that it's the car? Well McLaren's technically had the fastest car over the past 5 or so races and he's only executed one win. Verstappen and Hamilton may have been given dominant cars, but they've also made the difference. Norris will soon learn if he hasn't already.
McLaren has the best car, Red Bull has the best team
Ig Norris ironically proved you can’t just have a great car, you need a great everything
I think his face showed that he learnt exactly this at Silverstone in particular
Norris said after Lewis had the car for 7 years so wasn’t bad as having a quick car for 4 races versus 7-8 years is a big difference
@@GauravDevrani-cc7vr except Hamilton and Verstappen throughout their career could win in inferior cars too
Neither of them are wasting that McLaren more than Perez is wasting that Red Bull.
Well that's obvious but norris and piastri are still wasting the car's potential.
@@nakki123 id blame team strategysts, you cant be asking the driver what to do, other bigger teams may ask for opinions, for they decide what to do like it the driver or not, and not doing doble stop in silverstone was a big ass mistake the team did and piastri paid for it
@@nercussa2299 what? drivers are always heavily involved with strategy, they always take part of the blame and their input is more important than anybody elses
Top comment
@@dddd-uk4vnonly to a degree tho
If Red Bull or Mercedes had that car they would have won 6 out of the last 7 races. McLaren is doing a Ferrari 2022.
I'd say you are exaggerating a fair bit, at least if you are just putting the tactical team and drivers from one of the other teams at McLaren through the year and not also putting the current upgrade packages performance level vs their rivals all the way back too - their car wasn't and probably isn't even now that good, so winning that many would require also being lucky. They should have won some of them for sure, and had the potential to win more but nothing more than potential - no matter who was in the car or on the pit wall its far too competitive at the front to just win that many, even if you did the weekend flawlessly...
Max is just doing an alonso 2012 though
@@titancheat haha no he’s not. Red Bull is still the fastest car over the course of the season
@titancheat Definitely not. Alonso had a car that was sometimes half a second slower in qualifying. He literally would line up 6th-8th on the grid at times, Max has had the best car this year, and it shows in the constructors. Only reason the constructors is close is because Perez has been arguably the worst driver on the grid.
@@titancheatBruh no way you actually believe that. 2012 Alonso had the third-best car since the beggining, Max only had it last race
I think something that gets overlooked is Red Bull had to learn how to be perfect to beet Mercedes. That doesn't happen overnight. I do think McLaren has the fastest car right now, but not by enough to win without being nearly perfect outside the car.
They also had experience winning with the likes of Sebastian Vettel in a dominant manner and that was much more recent and applicable experience than Hamilton’s 08 title which was won by a hair
Good comment 👍🏻
Ah yes, the mclaren of 2012 is back
How can McLaren strategist get it wrong so often, it is as bad as former Ferrari strategy team.
Former?? Ferrari are still doing the same thing. Honestly i don't see mclaren improving in that aspect any soon
@@sleepypixie8828I feel like the top 4 teams strategy teams could be categorized like this.
Red Bull - Proactive and reactive, mixing data and driver input, best in business
Mercedes - cautious, conservative and data-driven, sometimes slow to react, but doesn't mess up often
McLaren - indecisive, too focused on their rivals, not trusting their data and instincts. Sometimes good, but unreliable.
Ferrari - communication is not only indecisive but unclear. Occasionally strategy is ok, but there is a high tendency for major mistakes or absurd risk taking.
The inter call was charles thinking he is smarter then everyone.
this shows that formula 1 isnt all about the cars and redbull was actually doing a tough job of not forking up
(im a mclaren fan)
*when the cars are within a certain window of each other. Hard to mess up when you're 30 seconds up the road like last year.
@@jackhamilton5250 😭😭😭
I’m still unsure of how in a world of no magic bullets or transformative upgrades that is modern f1, McLaren have managed to turn around a dog of a car into front running one early/mid season twice. Seems against the odds to me.
I mean they’d obviously understood what needed to be done by Austria 2023 and have continued on that trajectory, but which I agree is some feat
🍇🍈🍉🍊
Thinking back about Austria, I think Stella and Brown should’ve put the focus on their own performance. A lot of barking, playing with the big dogs, but one look in the mirror would’ve revealed they’re still a puppy.
Less talking more thinking is key I guess.
They tried to stir up drama, trying to make Max and Red Bull the dirty driver who never learned from his 2021 title fight. Jokes on them, every drivers including Norris ended up defending Max from the media
McLaren are learning lessons that can only be learned racing at the front, so I expect their race craft to improve. At Silverstone the team left the final tire change up to Hamilton because Norris said "Do what Hamilton does."
That Merc have won two races to their one is a disappointing result from McLaren.
Norris and Piastri could have but haven’t won so many races now. McLaren need to learn how to win again like Ferrari do.
Redbull and Merc just raised the bar over their winning stints in a way that Ferrari and McLaren have yet to match
Had piastri not gone 1mm outside track limits in Austria Q3, he would have started 3rd and thus inherited the win after the top 2 crashed. Fine margins
Ferrari 2022 vibes
ferrari had a lot of engine failures as well, which cost them more than the strategic blunders, but yes.
I think Ferrari and Leclerc were still significantly better than this
@@strexle7446Noooooo
Not the first time they had best car but lost both championships (2007,2010,2012)
Mclaren 2012 vibes !!
McLaren are Ferrari-ing! 🤦♂️
The drivers are the biggest problem
@@therealquaid1694and their both strategy team aswell
What Marc Priestley said: McLaren has to learn to win again. And this the season they are learning. Hopefully they be ready in 2025. (sorry typos)
It’s amazing how you can literally have one the strongest if not THE strongest car on the grid and there are so many important factors that help guarantee the victory. All the pieces must be aligned at one time and at the right moment consistently. McLaren can do it but they cannot afford to make little mistakes against the best I.e. Red Bull and max.
Their biggest single issue is more that car is only ever truly fastest in short bursts. 1 stint on 1 compound, they'll often be 3rd of 4th quickest on others. Which leaves too much work/luck with safety cars etc needed to undo the weak stints when they get onto the strong one and too much need to make that count then and there. The pace, whilst right there, is often slightly artificial given they are in full on attack mode chasing down the leader (usually Max) whilst they are often managing their pace. Silverstone is the only recent 1 you can really say they wasted a golden chance by making several messes with the strategy and tyre calls, and even then, was the McLaren REALLY any quicker than the Mercedes outside of that stint around the worst of the rain?
Most laughable is that zak brown say mclaren wont be like rb winning at all cost way lmao
Yes. And they need to take a good look at how they prioritize their drivers. Don't care about all the Lando groupies, Piastri has so far showed more growth and aggression on the track. That needs to be exploited.
reminds me of the 2012 season when mclaren were the clear fastest and fell behind by their own accord
Andrea Stella: you can take a man out of Ferrari, but can't take Ferrari out of a man
Everything bad because he was a ferrari man. If something good because something else?
@@musiccd1896 yes because ferrari are only bad
@@musiccd1896 apparently. the guy has completely turned mclaren around, but because of "Strategy" (something drivers are very involved in still and take blame for) he's still bad because "ferrari man"
Ferrari were good when he was there, and it took an Italian to turn a british race team into winners. maybe just maybe is the British engineers and strategist in the team that are not that great!
Check the onboards from Norris at Canada when the Safety Car was called. It's under 200m to pit entry when the SC boards light up. Should have had the "pit if SC deployed" message, but it was tighter than it is being made out to be
They just need their strategists to be up to the level of their drivers and their car. They’ll get there.
It wasn't so much as "light contact throwing the RedBull tyre off the rim", it was the spike on the back of the McLaren's from wing end plate that Norris clearly tagged Verstappen's tyre with as the RedBull slid past after the initial light contact.
Leclerc - Ferrari 2022 and Norris - McLaren 2024 really showed me, that it takes more than a good driver and a good car to battle for a championship. It takes at least a great driver with champion mentality and good car. Like Verstappen - RBR 2021
Piastri has all of the makings of a future champion. He just needs to have a team behind him that properly backs him.
EXACTLY THIS! All this talk of a title fight but if mclaren are gonna keep up a winrate of 1 win in 7 races (in contention for the win) then they have no chance. Especially with max doing a stellar job carrying redbull by himself and mercs stealing points off mclaren. Not just that, but the way their team is run shows how they aren’t currently capable of fighting at the front whilst redbull and mercedes have been doing that for years. Their strategy calls need to be improved to a level that the other top teams are threatened, because right now they have the best car but a midfield mindset. Lando could have three more wins off the top of my head had they pitted him either a lap earlier or fit the right tyres.
Winning races in Formula 1 is so much harder than it looks. When you've got the complete package and the car is a cut above the rest then I suppose in some ways the wins are easier but this run that McLaren are on of throwing away wins reminds of Williams in 2014-15. Probably had the chance to win 8-10 races in that period with both Bottas and Massa and they couldn't convert any of them. I remember Rob Smedley saying at the time that they had to learn how to win again (sadly they never did).
I think it's the same for McLaren. Let's be real they fluked that Miami victory (although Piastri was potentially on course to win anyway) and they're just learning how to win in Formula 1 again.
Verdict: remove the 9 other teams and you will get McLaren 1-2s (consider adding Sargeant to spice things up and ensure a safety car per race)
Get Alonso back in there
They need Zack out of there as well.
All talk and no results.
Norris has probably received more flack than deserved for the lack of wins - Canada and Silverstone were pretty much nothing to do with him, the penalty in Austria was sent Verstappen's way, and 4 times out of 5 that contact wouldn't have caused a double puncture. Imola he drove well and had no chance until the end.
Spain was a poor start, but the rest of the race was nearly perfect.
Looking at the timing graphic, Mclaren's car is consistent, but it's almost certainly not the quickest outright.
The amount of people arguing that Piastri is a better driver than Norris is ridiculous too. Justifying it based on personality completely ignores the clear qualifying and race pace deficit that Piastri (currently) has.
No he deserves it, max, vettell, Hamilton would be winning in his situation
even if Norris and Max would not have clashed in Austria, Norris definitely was going get a penalty which would cost him the win on his own
@@chinmaybarole5078 max would have gotten a penalty too. the moving under braking was quite visible.
It's easy to forget that this is only Piastri's 2nd year in F1. This is Norris' fifth year. Give Piastri another year or so of experience and he'll be beating Norris consistently imo.
Simple answer =YES
Why do the teams which go against Redbull waste their cars, Ferrari McLaren and Mercedes.
"qualification perfection required"
Hope the teams are taking notes.
Goldilocks: I'll take the middle one. Not too hot, not too cold.
Mclaren: nah, give me that tepid porridge bro.
Strategic mistakes cost them. However I also think the mclaren struggles to overtake cars without a tyre advantage
Best car =/= dominant car. Mclaren was also the "best" throughout 2012 and still "bottled" it. Same with Ferrari in 1999, arguably Williams in 2003 and 1991, Ferrari in 2017, 2018 and 1982, not to say about all those years when Lotus did that etc etc. This is just how racing works. If everyone is competitive you can't talk about underachieving too much. Of course their main issue is their backmarker/midfield mindset from the "dark" days but it's just how racing and sports work. This is the season where 4 teams can be the best and have the best car at some stage realistically and we should cherish that
LOL LOL LOL LOL
They could've won all of those tracks you mentioned but not easily also one of the characteristics of their car is that it gets faster at the end of stints, but it isn't that fast in the beginning
🏎
McLaren : *Being clown even had the fastest cars*
Ferrari : First time? we already did it since 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
And Mclaren also in 2007 and 2010 and 2012
The elephant in the room is this... Norris isn't that dude 😂😂
Them not pitting for the mediums was the most obvious howler I’ve seen in ages, my two year old knew to do that instead of the soft tyres which is mclarens weakest tyre
yeah ik right, they were cocky when they told him, its ok we have the better Mediums AND THEN USED SCRUB SOFTS.
Lewis taking softs got into their heads. They thought they could keep position by using softs but failed to understand they cannot handle 20 laps on softs like Lewis cam.
As seen with the clown show happening at ferrari you need more than a fast car to win...
A championship winning team isn't built by winning.
McLaren are becoming the F1s equivalent of the England football team . A lack of proactiveness on the pit wall and driver errors are squandering win opportunities.
what does this even mean.
The good ole " but what if"😂😂
Excellent summary Ed. I really hope and pray that AS & ZB watch and listen to this accurate and concise feedback
The entire team is showing their lack of experience. Also they need a hard core driver.. Alonso-Hulkenberg-KMag-
Winning is a learning curve, you have to fail to succeed.
The race at Hungaroring displayed another bad call by McLaren switching Lando and Oscar! The driver's championship is still possible for Lando, yet McLaren is throwing it away. Was it a good display of sportsmanship? Maybe. But if Lando loses the Drivers Championship by 6 points or less, then McLaren is at fault and the team will commercially miss out. They need to be totally focused on hunting down the points deficit instead of playing favorites.
They allowed Norris to undercut Piastri… twice. I think we know who the favourite is here.
F1’s best car was, is and always will be theF2004 (imo). That beast was quick af, yes the 2020 merc was probably better but the f2004 did what it did on grooved tyres without drs aid and it was a V10 so it’s way cooler
Lol
At least this involves race finishes, and not the Kimi/Juan era of:
Gearbox, Engine Failure, Suspension Failure, Gearbox, Hydraulics, Gearbox, Engine Failure
oh and Gearbox
To be fair, when you’ve spent THAT long just trying not to come last, you forget how to strategy properly… it’s not your main focus when it makes no difference. Now, however, they’ve suddenly found themselves in a place where a bad tire strategy can make the difference, and they just need to catch up.
1:52 "Battle for the lead" is one way to describe not a single on-track overtake in the top how many places?
Lando isn’t world champion material yet, He's more interested in being a good friend with only one thought.
The fact is that immature attitudes and ambitions for winning the races do not help them. Patience is the key, and better strategy, and drivers are the key elements for winning the races I belive they are lacking at least one of these. Too many strategy and driver errors will not help them secure the win. Again, having a fast car does not mean you can win easily. Merc and RB proved again what is more important to win the races.
Am I mistaken in recalling the radio conversation between Piastri and the team where he pretty much agreed not to pit immediately...?
I think winning is harder than the great team/driver combos make it look
THE RACE rocks.Thanks for a great episode.
They seem to get nervous whenever they get close to a win, it feels like they need to get used to fighting at the front again.
They're still yet to win a race on genuine pace in over a decade. Monza 2021 was won through being well placed to pick up Hamilton and Verstappen's scuffle, and Miami was won through a well timed safety car. They're missing that mindset that Merc and Red Bull have cultivated over the last 10 years from winning everything.
Where is Ron Dennis' phone number?
Its funny how Norris says Verstappen was desperate in Austria yet he pushed Verstappen onto the gras in Spain. Hypocrite 😅
Of course they are wasting it, in exactly the same way Ferrari did in 2022, even refused a double stack at Silverstone like Ferrari. If Merc or Ferrari were squandering these chances they'd be crucified for it
This will definitely go down as a 'shoulda coulda woulda' season. They need to sort their strategic game out and get back to a winning mentality.
Weird enough they failed to copy what ever strategy that rivals do.. even those watching at home can
Redbull has TWO goats… 1. Stap and 2. the team, who are at 99% perfection on calls and pit-stops.
Short answer: yes for this season
Long answer: no if they are quite dominant over the next years they could win 2 titles etc
Norris (and Brown) should stop being so cocky with their should've/would've/could've-s and keep their heads down while focusing on winning the races. They won a single race but act as if they've won the WDC.
If piastri was 1 mm inside track in austria quali, he would’ve been in third when max and lando crashed, and he would’ve won. If mclaren double stacked him and lando in silverstone, he would’ve won. (Lost 19-20 sec from not pitting that round, finished 12 sec off the lead)
McLaren strategist need to up the game. They are always asking Norris what he wants rather than giving him clear cut instructions. Norris doesn't have experience to make those calls just yet.
It’s the way mclaren as a team divides driver priority
I dunno what to tell you. How is it we viewers all knew the mediums were the best, but the pro driver and strategy team had no idea what tire to use?
If the pit wall tells you that if you want to win, you need to take the softs, I don't know why would any driver argue with that
@@patepulkkinenvtec2403That’s not what happened. The pit wall told Lando way ahead of time what tires they have (all three compounds) and what tires Red Bull has (no mediums). He was also told what tires those drivers went to when they pitted. At the in lap, the team asked what Lando wanted, and he wasn’t sure. The team said his options were softs or hards if he wanted to match Lewis or Max. Lando said, “softs, or whatever, any slick tire.” It was such a clusterf*ck.
For as long as they are so pig headed on prioritising Lando and not focussing on the best result for the team, we will keep seeing repeats of Silverstone.
Here was me thinking that Mclaren had recruited a Ferrari strategist..
Anyone that says anyone in F1 is "wasting the car's potential" that isnt a driver or engineer in F1 has absolutely no credibility to say such things.
Great content & presentation from "THE RACE". One of the Best.
Inshort it was all strategic problems. But seems like in Hungary they improved a lot
New headline:
It's summer, is F1-Media running out of news already?!
I’m sure The Race will have an extremely unbiased take in a video about Norris…
All of this without breaking the budget cap at the start of the regulations is beyond great.
Ed, Mark, Gary, I have some fears about these new 2026 regs that I’d like to put to you. May just be me that sees it this way…..
So, theoretically if you can drop top-body drag on the straights you can afford to pile top-body downforce on for the corners without the usual penalty on overall lap time. Best of both worlds if you will, but all based on top-body downforce. Monaco wings for the corners, Monza spec for the straights.
My fear is that this would mean cars that can follow less well than they do now as the downforce split relies more on top-body downforce for ultimate lap time than they do currently. Plus, the leading car will drop the drag before the chasing car and will be accelerating away sooner. If the chasing car has already lost ground in the corner due to turbulent air it would seem that a serious power boost would be needed to catch up, a lot more than is currently planned.
Red shells may be the only workable solution to this!
Piastri ALSO could've won the Austrian GP. If he didn't lose his Q3 time, he would've qualified 3rd and may have been in the box seat to take the lead once Norris and Verstappen took each other out. OR if he didn't lose so much time in the early phases he may have been close enough to get past Russell to win.
Completely missed that if the FIA had been reasonable about track limits at Austria in quali, he would've been in position in the race to win it.
My hot take is that Nooris is a good driver, but not a Verstappen/Hamilton driver.
McLaren haven’t had a consistent front challenger since 2012. That combined with new management and team members they probably need time to understand how to get the 50/50 calls right.
it is easier to underperform in fast car then to overperform in slow one
Lando folds like a lawn chair under pressure, they could be great if they ever notice their «second» driver
I give Mclaren a pass. Since this is a bit of uncharted territory for them. In recent years they were barely a mid-filed team. And they have young drivers that have never been a win/podium threat. So lots to learn on everyone's part
I think McLaren has forgotten how to win. At Silverstone, they were too focus on wanting to respond to what there teams were doing (or thinking they might do) instead of setting the tone and being decisive.
Crazy bc if they got these all right (best case compared to current worst case), there would be a legit drivers championship battle rn
Lando at his best is only the 6th top driver. And he has 1 win out of 6 possible. The math is mathing.
Obviously yes. Arguably the only people within mclaren who are mature and decisive enough for a title battle is piastri and stallard, but piastri still has to get a hold of his tire management. The overall pitwall is not sharp or decisive enough and lando is not good enough under pressure.
Compare that to red bull, max and GP, "We need to box for inters now" "Ok that was a good call" or "Box box max" "copy".
Driver feedback based on his experience and skill is also important. When switching from slicks to inters, Max ordered his engineer at the right time that eventually helped him in maintaining track position.
I agree, but asking about dry tires is too much for me, at Silverstone they shouldve just said box and put him on what they thought was, they had all the data at that point of the race. @@abnfalcon3901
No?
They’ve made mistakes, but how else are they going to learn how to win at the front.
What were Leclerc’s 3 fastest sector times at Monaco? Would Piatri still have a .7 gap?
all better now