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.
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.
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 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.
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
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
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
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.
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?
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.
@@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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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!
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)
What an absurd title. It seems to me that people are trying to make the mclaren the fastest car to give more praise to Verstappen. The Red Bull is the fastest and complete car on the grid and this is not changing any time soon. The mclaren can challenge but thats it for now. The baked in advantage cant be lost in a few months and the results are showing it too.
Don’t expect anything else from goldfish memory F1 fans. Redbull dominates qualifying. Dominates the first 2/3rd of the race. Little slower in the last stint. “McLaren was the fastest car!”
Oh yes Mclaren is tractor and also Mercedes and Ferrari aswell and that RB20 is still Rocketship 2S per lap faster and Mclaren and Mercedes and Ferrari drivers is outfpermorming their machinery by their skils and Max is average driver only win by the car and anyone in the grid can do what he does in that Red bull since 2016 including stroll and Mazepin and Latifi and Sargent ect happy now must be feels better lolor just the truth is Red bull is not the fastest car now but is Mclaren and Max is winning by not have the best car oh like before 2022 second half is hurt your feelings like sameone here 😂😂😂😂❄️🤣 EDIT "keep crying lying to yourself maybe it help you feels better and keep proved me right "
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.
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.
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.
Imagine if they had Dan and Oscar together… This team could be unbeatable. Dan never had a competitive McLaren and still managed a race win. I completely agree with this video. Now that they have a good car, they need to work on their strategies. Norris needs to improve his racing and defending skills. Oscar has shown he is capable, even with limited access to upgrades. Norris should move to the second driver position as he isn't performing at a championship level, which might push him to improve. Also, Oscar should get first pick of upgrades.
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.
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.
Norris never had and it seems that never will have a winner mentality. He is fast but many drivers out there are fast. Leclerc is really fast too, but he just doesn't have what it needs to win against a driver like Verstappen as we saw in 2022. There have been amazing drivers through the years like Coulthard, Barichello, Massa, Berger, Alesi, and others who didn't have that champion material. I believe Norris is one of them. Oscar is very young but it seems that he will turn out to be better than Norris.
Haven't seen the video yet, but the answer is yes. On the other hand, these are the growing pains of coming back to the front (specially against a force of nature like RB with Max) and they just need time to adjust. On the other-other hand, they're McLaren. An institution of the sport, so that time should be minimal.
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.
McLaren leaves on Lando too many strategic decisions during the race. He has to listen more what the team says on when to pit or what tyres to put on. He is very talented but not coldblooded like Max.
Yes Mclaren is wasting the best F1 car, they need a lion of a team leader who is racing focused like Christian Horner, Toto Wolf, Fred Vasseur, Komatsu and James Vowels. Zak Brown is all Shenanigans while Andrea Stella, like Binotto is too engineering focused as he is a brilliant engineer. Understanding this Alpine got Flavio back as a consultant. I think Mclaren should get someone like Ross Brawn equivalent with immediate effect for the way F1 is developing and Mercedes showing promise and also with Redbull expected to sort out its knife edge handling issues, this best F1 car needs to make hay while the sun still shines.
Unless we put everyone in each car I don't think you can say McLaren is best car. Still as far as the question is concerned as long as they treat Piastri the way they do? Yeah. Lando is just not leadership material it seems. Granted a lot of the missed opportunities were down to McLaren rather than Lando but a few were down to him. I mean just the visible stuff with Piastri is bad enough but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. Usually if there's smoke there is fire. McLaren have to be careful. They keep doing this to him two things will happen. Piastri will leave or he will lose heart like Gasly, Albon and now Perez at Red Bull. You can't tell a Formula 1 driver not to win or be number two and expect it to not have an effect on their mentality.
