Although Max Verstappen’s all-around brilliance in Japan prevented McLaren from winning their third consecutive race in 2025, the Woking-based outfit have yet been the clear leaders of the field. With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri securing a double podium finish for McLaren at Suzuka, they got the maximum points for a third consecutive race week.
McLaren now have scored 111 points and lead second-placed Mercedes by a healthy margin of 36 points. Despite most going right for McLaren, they still left Japan disappointed and that was all to do with the masterclass produced by Verstappen.
Even though it were one of the two McLaren drivers that led every practice session of the weekend and Verstappen could not finish higher than fifth in any of those sessions, the Dutchman still got pole position. That is where the race was effectively lost for McLaren as neither Norris nor Piastri ever seemed to trouble Verstappen in the Japanese GP.
That said, George Russell does not believe McLaren have been at their best yet. He believes that since the upcoming races will have much warmer temperatures, the Woking-based outfit’s advantage will be even greater.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of McLaren yet. It’s been cold races. And, in Bahrain with 35 degrees and Saudi 37 degrees, we should see them excel. We are normally good in cool conditions,” he explained after the Grand Prix on Sunday.
George Russell: I don’t think we’ve seen the best of McLaren yet. It’s been cold races. And, in Bahrain with 35 degrees and Saudi 37 degrees, we should see them excel. We are normally good in cool conditions.
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) April 6, 2025
Norris, on the other hand, believes that McLaren have much work to do in terms of improving the overall concept of the car. He highlighted how the team’s weaknesses are in the slow-speed corners.
“I was quicker in sector one than Max [Verstappen], but the Red Bull is a lot quicker than us in slow-speed corners. It is too difficult to overtake here and our strengths and weaknesses were in the wrong spots,” he said as quoted by Sky Sports F1. If these issues aren’t addressed, Norris’ title bid could be in serious jeopardy.
This is because Verstappen seems to find a way to win despite arguably having the third fastest car on the grid. With the Red Bull driver having managed to outperform the capabilities of his car consistently, he finds himself second in the championship standings now and just one point behind leader Norris.
So, for the Briton’s sake, he will hope that Russell’s hypothesis for the upcoming races turns out to be true and he could use McLaren’s pace advantage to increase his lead over Verstappen.
