McLaren claimed a first title since 2008 by beating Ferrari to the constructors’ championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year.
Lando Norris delivered a fine performance under pressure and held both Scuderia drivers behind him to claim victory and end their 16-year major silverware drought.
It wasn’t without distractions along the way, with Oscar Piastri keen to avoid McLaren team orders in 2025 following the ‘Papaya Rules’ fiasco where he was accused of being too aggressive towards his teammate at the Italian Grand Prix.
Norris has promised fans to be ‘better’ and ‘stronger’ to dethrone Max Verstappen, who had amassed too much of a gap for him to catch up to in 2024.
After rounding the year off with the fastest car, they are expected to start the upcoming campaign in a far better position than they were in this time last year, and it could reap huge rewards for them.
McLaren have been warned to be careful with their F1 2025 decisions, including any attempts they make to improve their car’s pace in slow corners. It has been one of their biggest weaknesses.
With Red Bull set to be in a weaker position this time around, capitalising on any early season advantage will be important.
Norris has to build a lead in the drivers’ championship if their rivals face a deficit, much like Verstappen did last year.
The Race’s Ed Straw doesn’t think that the Woking-based outfit are going to be cautious with their design. Instead, he thinks that they will be ‘bold’ in pursuit of extra performance.
Norris should love such a decision, with the opportunity to have a dominant car early on if the right calls are made with their machine.
“I’m going to throw McLaren in then. There’s some positive talk from McLaren about the car is going to be quite bold,” he said.
“Whether that boldness will be easy to see because you can be bold in the underfloor, etc.
“There’s a good chance with the McLaren [that] we’ll see how they’re pushing things to try and eke out a little more performance and make sure they can hang on to that constructors’ title and, from their perspective,e hopefully win the drivers’ championship.
“I think McLaren is the one that could be very, very interesting, just to see if it’s same old, or if there are areas that they’ve just pushed everything a little bit more, and you can pick out some visual differences to get excited about.”
McLaren were the subject of complaints regarding their front wing last season, as their performance started to ramp up after the summer break.
Helmut Marko demanded an investigation into McLaren’s wings as Red Bull could start to feel the balance turning in their rivals’ favour.
With the FIA seeking a change to make the flexibility tests for wings stricter, it could make an impact on one of the strongest components of the Papaya outfit’s car.
Surprisingly, McLaren have taken a ‘curious’ stance on the upcoming F1 rule change and are open to the regulations tightening.
It’s an indication that as part of their bold changes for 2025, they may have overhauled the front of their car as well.
Their car will be unveiled to the world for the first time at the O2 Arena, where F1 75 will play host to the first 10-team launch event in the sport’s history.
