Charles Leclerc has recounted that Oscar Piastri’s quickest time in the final practice session in Bahrain was the lap that had him “lost for words” in Formula 1 in 2025.
McLaren’s domination has gone against the consensus across the winter that this season was shaping up to be among the most competitive the sport has ever seen.
The Woking-based squad’s nine victories in 12 races have seen it create what is regarded as an all but unassailable 238-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship.
Leclerc, whose Ferrari team sits in a distant second, admitted McLaren’s improvement since the two sides battled to the wire for the title in 2024 has been staggering.
“I wish I knew what made McLaren so fast this year,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week at Silverstone, where McLaren recorded another commanding 1-2.
“For sure, they’ve done a significant step forward, something that I don’t think many of us expected, because when you get to the last year of those regulations, everything tends to converge a little bit.
“But this year they just did a big step forward. I doubt that it’s coming from one thing. It never comes from only one thing.
“I think it’s just many different things that they are doing better than others, which makes a big difference at the end.
Where does McLaren’s advantage reside?
McLaren’s vast advantage has been attributed to how the team’s MCL39 car can generate sufficient temperature in the tyres without being susceptible to overheating.
That has been most pronounced when temperatures are on the higher side, such as in FP3 in Bahrain when Piastri ended eight tenths up on the nearest non-McLaren.
“But it is true that one of the characteristics that [has] significantly improved since last year is hot weather,” Leclerc continued.
“I think I remember there was an FP3 in Bahrain this year where I’m still wondering how did Oscar do that lap time in that heat, which was very impressive.
“There are these kinds of laps that you look and you say, you’re just a bit lost for words and you don’t really understand where the performance comes from.
“So they found something, especially whenever it’s warm and on tyres, that we’re still trying to figure out.”
McLaren has found ‘perfect path’ with development
George Russell has claimed McLaren’s success can also be ascribed to avoiding the development setbacks that others have encountered with the ground effect cars.
“If we knew, we wouldn’t have fallen back, to be honest,” the Mercedes driver chimed in. “We don’t really know exactly why.
“They seem very good on the tyres. They seem very good in hot races. Clearly, their updates are working as they expect.
“And I think when you find yourself on the right tracks of this development slope, the rewards are endless, and they’ve clearly found that perfect path.
“Like Charles was saying before, these cars, these regs are not easy. I think we’re all looking forward to a change of regs. It’s not going to be easy next year, but the cars do seem a little bit more conventional. But then obviously we’re going to have the challenges with the PU and the batteries, so that’s a secondary factor.”
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