McLaren have started off the 2025 season in a similar fashion to how they ended last year’s campaign, as they have been utterly dominant. With five wins after the first six races, McLaren’s MCL39 is by far the fastest car on this year’s grid.
Oscar Piastri has bagged four wins so far, with Norris picking up one win at the season-opening Australian GP. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who will be hoping against all odds to defend his title, has only managed a single win so far with his RB21 at the Japanese GP.
One area where McLaren have been much more superior than Red Bull is in tire management. Since McLaren have been so dominant, it has raised a few eyebrows in the paddock. Red Bull are already suspicious about McLaren’s package this season and have raised allegations of the Woking-based outfit possibly using an illegal cooling mechanism to cool down their tires.
Yet, despite McLaren’s clear advantage, Verstappen is still within touching distance of the duo of Piastri and Norris. He currently sits 16 points adrift of the #4 driver in third, who himself is 16 points behind the championship leader, Piastri.
2025 vs 2024 f1 driver standings after 6 races
2025 vs 2024:
1)Piastri 131 vs 41 (+90)
2)Norris 115 vs 83 (+32)
3)Verstappen 99 vs 136 (-37)
4)Russell 93 vs 37 (+56)
5)Leclerc 53 vs 98 (-45)
6)Antonelli 48 vs 0 (+48)
7)Hamilton 41 vs 27 (+14)#F1 #wdc pic.twitter.com/Jmq5P80PCI— Roterly (@_roterly_) May 5, 2025
Former Toro Rosso (now RB) driver Jaime Alguesuari believes that the area where Verstappen makes the difference is in qualifying. “That’s exactly what that ba**** Max always knows how to defend, because he just doesn’t make mistakes. Not at all,” he explained as quoted by F1Maximaal.nl.
Alguersuari went on to document how the McLaren duo still haven’t figured out how to maximize their performances on a Saturday. “I think, if you have to criticize McLaren, they can qualify better. They obviously didn’t make it. They didn’t drive a perfect lap. Lando knows that too. That last corner cost him the pole,” he said about Miami.
Six races into the 2025 season, Verstappen has denied the McLarens pole on three occasions. The former Toro Rosso driver then also pointed out how Verstappen is able to claw back the deficit to the MCL39 in high-speed corners, which is one of the few inherent strengths of the RB21.
However, McLaren’s superiority in managing their tires is what is acting as the biggest impediment for Verstappen in the 2025 title battle. Hence, in terms of race pace, Red Bull and the Dutchman need to find solutions to the RB21’s deficit if he wants any chance of claiming the fifth consecutive world title this year.
