McLaren opened the 2025 Formula One season with a resounding statement in Australia. In qualifying Lando Norris pole position time was effortlessly half second quicker than third placed Max Verstappen, with Oscar Piastri just two tenths back from the British driver starting the race on Sunday in second place.
The wet weather played into Verstappen’s hands as he managed to hang on to the coat tails of the flying papaya liveried cars. Only a mistake from Piastri allowed the world champion finally through, although at one point he’d been 15 seconds adrift before the inevitable safety car.
In terms of qualifying pace in the dry in Melbourne, Norris was set to finish some 30 seconds ahead of the first non-McLaren driver but the rains put pay to that McLaren advantage. Come China the expectations were for more McLaren dominance, although that’s not the way the weekend has played out as yet.
Norris lost his lightening pace
In Shanghai practice Norris was half a second faster than his nearest challenger and much of this can be attributed to the McLaren’s rear end superiority. Norris found most of his time in the final sector during practice when other team’s drivers reported their rear tyres were screaming as they overheated.
Come Sprint qualifying with track temperatures cooling and the track having rubbered in, the critical loss of grip shifted more towards the front of the cars, which to a certain degree mitigated McLaren’s advantage with their stable rear end.
After a disappointing Sprint qualifying, Lando Norris in just P6 explained the difficulties he had been facing. “It’s not even about controlling their temperatures,” said Norris. “It’s just graining.” Which gave the chasing pack a lifeline, even Piastri could manage only P3.
In qualifying, Norris was again struggling to match his team mate’s pace and was slower in two of the three sessions than his Australian team mate. Piastri admitted he almost abandoned his final quick lap which gained him pole position but the “hairpin of my life” handed Oscar a two tenths improvement on the field and a final 100th improvement through the final corner sealed the front of the field starting place for the McLaren driver.
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McLaren boss explains “more of a penalty for Lando”
Norris admitted his qualifying session was riven with mistakes but his third place final position was just a tenth and a half slower than his team mate. George Russell finally found the sweet spot for his Mercedes, which is often the class of the field when the grip is front limited as in Las Vegas 2024. The British driver made a last gasp effort to claim P2 for the start of the Grand Prix, just 0.082s behind the McLaren pole sitter.
To explain Norris struggles in Shanghai relative to his team mate, team boss Andreas Stella had this to say. “There’s a couple of things – one mainly related to the behaviour of the tyres on this surface, and the other one I think is more related to the behaviour of the car – that make exploiting the car at the limit a bit difficult,” said Stella.
“This is the same for both drivers, but I think it’s more of a penalty for Lando, given his driving style and the way he wants to generate lap time. On both things, the one related to the tyres and the one related to the car, there’s not much we can do – we just have to adapt.”
For these types of circuits, McLaren have work to do for their long run pace as Stella revealed was evidenced by the graining Lando suffered in the Sprint. “Oscar coped with the tyres a bit more comfortably. But it’s also true that he had less dirty air,” said the McLaren team principal.
Lando over driving his MCL39
Norris was caught in a DRS train which ruined his Sprint, as he along with Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Antonelli and Lance Stroll all squabbled over P6-P9. Lando’s problem was set up in qualifying and both in the Sprint and for the Grand Prix he lost time to snaps and lock ups regularly, never looking at home with his MCL39.
Andreas Stella suggested the difficult to drive McLaren lured Norris into over driving the car. “Somehow when he tried to find the last one or two tenths that you normally would find when you put a couple of new sets, then I think he hits this sort of behaviours that I refer to without being specific,” explained Stella.
“And this means that actually for him, it works better when he’s at 99% of his potential. When he tries to extract the 100, actually things trip over a little bit.”
Yet all is not lost for Norris for the Chinese GP, should he make short work of George Russell when the lights go out on Sunday then anything is possible. Piastri is not the complete article as he showed in Australia, making a mistake which cost him a certain 18 points and a disappointing ninth place finish.
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Front limited circuits which do’t suit Norris
More worryingly for Lando is the fact that next time out in Japan, he will face another front grip limited circuit, which his boss believes is a handicap for him. Spa Francorchamps where Mercedes were strong last year will then be Norris’ next biggest challenge in this respect, although Monaco and Singapore also stress the front tyres more than most others.
Ferrari’s pace appeared to desert them following the Sprint, with Lewis Hamilton 0.1 seconds slower than his pole for the Sprint. Much of this is due to the increase in headwind facing the drivers along the back straight. Ferrari have a slower top speed than Red Bull and Mercedes at the end of the 1.2km straight which will be a handicap come racing on Sunday.
McLaren interestingly were the slowest of the top four in the speed trap, but their superior pace through the long turn 13 which leads there should be enough to negate the DRS of a chasing car. Should the start of the Grand Prix go smoothly, its difficult to see past a Piastri win, although Mercedes and George Russell may have tyre whispering magic on their side.
And so the predictions start to play out, with McLaren having no number one driver, a Piastri win in China will suit Max Verstappen just fine. Even a P4 finish for the world champion looks to be a good result, with the currently tricky handling of the REB21 exacerbated in China.
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The crucial strategy to win the 2025 Chinese GP
The teams are enjoying their visit to Shanghai this year as blue skies are the order of the day rather than the usual smog which encircles the Formula One track in Shanghai. Now the second round of the year, this year’s Chinese GP will take place on a circuit which has been completely resurfaced.
As a result Oscar Piastri’s pole position was just over three seconds quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s was in the People’s Republic this time last year. The extra grip is remarkable but the trade off will be in increased tyre degradation come the 56 lap race on Sunday with drivers reporting their cars are ‘hopping’ as the tyres bite into the new sticky surface.
When the cars lose rear end traction, they most usually slide, but in Shanghai they’ve been gripping up again straight away causing the car to hop. Lando Norris first run in Q3 showed this dramatically as he took the final corner before the start finish straight. The line through the turn suggested he would be taking a significant amount of the kerb, but his rear end snapped quickly into place making the McLaren’s drivers job to push for the line a lot easier…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
