McLaren balancing innovation with maintaining title momentum

Formula 1’s launch season is taking on a slightly strange image this year, with the F1 75 live event next week preventing teams from revealing their 2025 race liveries. But that doesn’t stop the cars from breaking cover. And in what is a slightly unusual twist, it was the reigning constructors’ championship-winning team that actually showed its hand first, as McLaren’s MCL39 hit the track for the first time at Silverstone on Thursday. Billed as a launch event, the car was already circulating — only ever for short runs as part of a promotional filming day during which McLaren is limited to 200km of mileage — when we were allowed to gather at the Hilton Garden Inn that faces the Silverstone pit lane. In a camouflage livery, it certainly looked cool but made it even harder to decipher the details from such a distance. While details are always in short supply during launch season as teams try and hide any secrets related to their new machinery, team principal Andrea Stella was certainly willing to describe the car as “innovative” when outlining just how much McLaren has pushed the boundaries as its looks to defend its title. “It is a car in which we tried to raise the bar in many areas, including the fundamental layout — something that definitely we evaluated carefully, because the MCL38 was already a competitive car,” Stella said. “So we needed to be conscious, considerate as to how much we wanted to innovate; but ultimately, actually, we went for a relatively challenging approach in terms of how much of innovation is in this car. “This is predominantly to gain aerodynamic efficiency, so to allow our colleagues in aerodynamics to have volumes to use for their geometries. At the same time, we still wanted to make some improvements in terms of interaction with the tires, and what you can do to improve your long-run pace. “I think they fundamentally are the two areas . Obviously, there’s some tuning on the suspensions as well, in terms of the mechanical grip; but nowadays the suspension pretty much tends to serve aerodynamics.” Stella insists the car that was running at Silverstone is largely the same design that will hit the track during the Bahrain test in two weeks’ time and has continued along a similar path of development progress that McLaren has seen in the past two seasons. The main difference is that this year it aims to hit the ground running, rather than having to play catch-up with upgrades early in the campaign. “We have not changed the approach or the rate of development with a front-loading of our developments,” he added. “We have just tried to go as fast as possible in terms of developing the car, which means that there will be some updates during the early races of the season. “But this would have been the same even without the ’26 changes of regulations looming ahead, if we had just gone as fast as possible. Because we are very aware that last season, even if it had been a successful season, the margins we have from a performance point of view mean that we needed to be aggressive with the car to try and cash in as much performance as possible. “Those margins were so small that considering the development that other teams would have had, had we not gone as fast as possible in terms of development, we might very quickly lose any advantage that we had. With four teams that at any single weekend were in condition to win the race, it’s very easy to fall from being pole position to being P8 on the grid. So definitely we kept full gas in terms of development, and we will see if we have been able to develop more than our competitors from the 2024 to the 2025 car.” While Stella talks about trying to keep an advantage that allowed McLaren to win the constructors’ championship, it has another, arguably more significant target in mind. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have their eyes on the ultimate prize of becoming drivers’ champion, something that the team admits was hampered by its slow start to 2024. Now, the mindset is different. McLaren and its drivers enter the season with favorite tags around their necks, and it’s a situation Norris is relishing. “Every year is a new year, and every driver is going to come back more determined,” Norris said after driving the new car. “That’s including myself. Everyone wants to prove their points and improve on their weaknesses. “As much as you can look at last year, I’ve got a strong teammate who’s been very aggressive and fast and aggressive in terms of he’s got up to speed very, very quickly, and he’s done a very good job in the first few years. He’s probably only going to improve from what he’s done so far. “So for me to have the performance that I had against him last year and still also be improving myself just as much, I think was a good thing for myself. But I’m definitely not feeling the pressure of all of these things. I know there’s the expectation, and we have more partners and sponsors, and fans. “Every single one of these things adds to the pressure and the nerves of it all, but … when I brought it up in the past, that the pressure and the nerves and I don’t eat on Sundays, people always somehow turn it into a bad thing, but it’s not a bad thing at all. For me, I always perform better in these situations. “Those moments I thrive on are the ones where there is more pressure, there is more nerves — I enjoy that. Those are the moments I enjoy the most and the moments that actually turn me into a better driver. “Too many people get hung up on the, ‘Oh that’s not good, I bet he’s not nervous.’ I don’t care about any of that, honestly. I found the correct way of doing it myself, and that’s what I stick to. So I like seeing those — I like hearing them. I like that I have that kind of bit of pressure on my back.” While Piastri made clear his confidence that he has a clean slate from which to fight Norris — after taking on a supporting role towards the end of last season — Max Verstappen is still the biggest threat who currently needs beating from an external perspective. “I need to get my elbows out, and I need to show that I’m not going to willingly give him any positions, those kind of things,” Piastri said. “But I also have to be a smart driver. You have to be a smart driver to go up against Max. We saw it last year. So I look forward to — I like those moments when you have to make those quick decisions, and it’s always a lot harder when you’re in the car than when you re-watch it after. When I see some things that I do, I’m like, ‘Why the hell have I done that? What an idiot!’ “But at the same time, I want to say, I don’t need to go out and just prove something to him. I don’t need to take any unnecessary risks, and I don’t need to go down trying, necessarily. I just keep focusing on myself. “Most of what I’ve learned, I don’t think you have to do anything special to try and beat Max. He’s quick, he’s aggressive, he’s one of the best ever. The easy way is just going out and being a bit quicker than him — and staying ahead. “That’s the obvious plan, but I know, I’ve just got to be smart. That’s the answer to it all: You have to be smart, and you have to position the car well, and also think of the long game sometimes.” It’s a long game that McLaren has kicked off with the first showing of a 2025 car, and one it intends to lead from the front this time around.