After qualifying, McLaren’s team principal spoke to the media. Beyond the natural and understandable happiness for the result achieved, the former Ferrari track engineer emphasized an important concept for him. He referred to the amazement of seeing such a competitive car. Nothing better could have been asked for to start the 2025 racing campaign in the best possible way. Moreover, according to what was said, Melbourne was not at all a track where the team expected to dominate.
On the contrary, at least on paper, we’re talking about an Australian layout that could have posed difficulties for the Woking team. But no, it didn’t go that way. This is because the factory team gave their all, being very skilled in pushing until the last day to provide so much competitiveness to the car. He concludes, as Norris also pointed out, reminding that it’s only Saturday and that the job isn’t done until a double triumph is achieved. That’s the goal for tomorrow.
McLaren, the choice of aerodynamic load
The British team boasts the F1 car that currently has the best balance. The same goes for the car’s operating window, the widest in the entire category. We’ll remember that last season, the MCL39 showed this characteristic, having an incredible performance flexibility. This is a trait that makes the car competitive in any racing scenario. It wasn’t easy to achieve this highly desired target, which now seems even more on point compared to the past.
Between Friday and Saturday, unlike Ferrari, McLaren wasn’t affected at all by the changes imposed by Pirelli on the front tire pressures: +1 PSI. The team had the chance to test two aerodynamic packages yesterday, with the main difference being the rear wing. The two specifications differed in the main plane and the additional flap, which in the lower-downforce version was trimmed at its ends, to then evaluate that the higher-downforce version could provide better drivability to the car.
The MCL39 is fast on straights and in corners
Overall, looking at the onboard footage of the MCL39, the car was essentially planted on the ground. The real difference compared to the SF-25 is noticeable in turn 4. We had mentioned this yesterday, saying that the British car managed to carry more speed through the direction change. The gain was significantly greater during traction phases. Overall, even Andrea Stella himself was surprised, as we said earlier, since no one thought they could adapt so well to the Albert Park circuit.
On the other hand, we explained in the preview. For the range of stiffness they use, the bumps could have caused problems. On the contrary, the skill in finding the correct setup made all the difference. Ultimately, there’s an aspect worth analyzing. Unlike what happened yesterday, the two papaya-colored cars no longer dominate only the high-speed sections, where thanks to their aerodynamic efficiency (at this point, we can say this, removing the doubts we had from the Sakhir track tests), they fly with high top speeds.
If we look at the graphic above, we will notice how the gain was extended even in the more technical sections. Specifically, during cornering. From the same image, we can draw another conclusion regarding Ferrari. We can clearly highlight where the Ferrari SF-25 lost valuable time in its performance. The exit from the first chicane, the section from turn 3 to 5, and the 11th and 12th corners.
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