McLaren started out this season very strong, with Lando Norris putting a stop to Max Verstappen leading the champion over 1000 days.
Then, Oscar Piastri showed him up, he took the lead of the championship from Lando right from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and kept it till the Mexico Grand Prix, *which is a huge feat as Norris has had 4 more years in F1 than Piastri. *
They even won the Constructors’ Championship at the Singapore Grand Prix.
McLaren decided to take the non-interfering route with their drivers!
McLaren had from the very start allowed their drivers to go out on track and race each other, without interfering at all in between the drivers on track.
Back in 2015, when the teams where not allowed to instruct their drivers on anything apart from the gap to front and other drivers, this approach would have been very good. But, in 2025, where teams can issue swap positions orders, McLaren decided that they would not make any difficult decisions at all.
Multiple times during the season there were situations, where if Mclaren had decided to take action the current situation they are in would not have come to pass.
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What have McLaren done?
McLaren have pulled the most stupid and out right foolish move. They decided to let their drivers race on during the one and only Safety Car at the Qatar Grand Prix, a race where each tire could only be used for a maximum of 25 laps.
Now, just before the Safety Car, Oscar was in the lead, with Max chasing him. Lando had managed to not bottle his start, which for him is an achievement in itself, and was letting Max Verstappen race on ahead to save his tires.
Now on Lap 7, Nico Hulkenberg collided with Pierre Gasly and crashed out of the race, this gave every team an opportunity to pit under the Safety Car as the race was 57 laps long, meaning each team would have to pit twice, to comply with the 25 lap tire restriction.
Oscar never got the call to pit, max pit behind him, and to Lando’s surprise he too never got the call to pit.
He immediately asked why, and the answer he got was that all those who pit (every other team on the grid except McLaren!), would now have to pit at Lap 32, whereas they (McLaren) have flexibility.
What were the drivers able to do with the flexibility? Nothing!
Piastri pit at lap 24, and Lando Norris pit on lap 25. They gained nothing from that pitstop. They had another 25 laps to catch up to Max Verstappen, who conveniently had built up a gap behind him.
He pit in lap 32, and was third as all others had to pit behind him.
Could McLaren have saved it after bottling the Safety Car pit window?
Now, McLaren had another choice, keep going till the 25 lap limit for each of their drivers, or pit them early. They truly drew upon Lando Norris’s energy and bottled their second pitstop as well.
Max was catching up to Lando Norris, since Norris had gone of and had lost some pace due to that. Piastri pitted, but Norris should have been kept out, slowing down Max, as overtaking is difficult unless you are within 0.500 seconds behind a driver down the main straight.
Now this becomes very difficult as the track has very fast turns, and following closely behind another car, in its dirty air causes overheating tires, engine components, loss of downforce.
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*So, maybe Max would have lost out his advantage. *
But McLaren again stepped back from taking a decision and splitting the strategy between the two cars. They repeated what they did in the start of the race!
Well, for Max Verstappen, McLaren have practically handed him another chance to win the championship.
Like they did in Las Vegas, as their miscalculations caused a double disqualification of their drivers.
For Lando Norris, he could have won the championship if he won the race, but he managed to bottle his qualifying session.
Then McLaren, who have subtly been leaning towards Lando, as he is Zak Brown’s foster child, really delivered a slap to his face as they failed to take a decision in the heat of the moment.
At the same time, Red Bull’s Chief Strategist Hannah Schmitz really out showed her skills, as her perfect strategy led Max to victory.
What does this mean for the 2025 F1 World Championship?
For us fans, it couldn’t be a bigger gift.
Did you watch the 2021 penultimate race? Well, imagine three contenders showing up to take the championship trophy, instead of two.
Now, Max Verstappen is second in the championship. He hasn’t been second since the Japanese Grand Prix!
Lando sits only 12 points ahead of Max, and 16 points ahead of Piastri.
Max Verstappen can win if he wins the race and Lando finishes anywhere below 4th. For Piastri to win, Lando has to finish lower than 5th.
The big question which we all have been waiting to be answered this season…
Who will be the 2025 F1 Drivers’ World Champion?
Well, it shall be answered finally, in only a few days at the penultimate race of the season: The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.