Max Verstappen admits: “McLaren leads in tyre management and dominates medium-speed corners”. Max Verstappen praises McLaren as the best in tyre management.

Max Verstappen bows to McLaren

The remarkable journey that McLaren has undertaken under the guidance of team principal Andrea Stella stands out as one of the most impressive transformations in Formula 1 history. Over just two years, and within a framework of technical continuity, the papaya team has gone from being one of the backmarkers to dominating the 2025 championship—a process that other Formula 1 teams often take much longer to achieve or fail to accomplish altogether.

McLaren’s exponential rise has even forced Max Verstappen to acknowledge their superiority. The reigning world champion was outperformed by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on circuits known for their limited overtaking opportunities, such as Suzuka and Imola. On more conventional tracks, Verstappen cannot help but admire the papaya team’s dominance, which he attributes to two main factors: tyre management and their car’s exceptional behaviour in medium-speed corners.

“They are definitely the best when it comes to tyre management; they manage to preserve their tyres much better,” Max Verstappen said. “You can see this clearly in wet conditions with the intermediate tyres. If you have good tyre management, this advantage becomes even more obvious because the tyres are more fragile and overheat much faster, but they control that very well.”

“At the same time, I think their performance in medium-speed corners is incredible compared to everyone else on the grid. The rotation they get on the front axle without losing the rear end is amazing to watch. It’s something we need to try to achieve.”

Since the upgrades introduced in Austria in 2023, the Woking-based team has not made a single misstep, developing solutions that insiders describe as simple and intelligent—solutions that no other competing team has been able to replicate. Instead, their rivals often find themselves forced to develop countermeasures that prove to be of questionable effectiveness. The latest example of this is Mercedes’ rear suspension upgrade, which ultimately cost them more time and ground to McLaren.