As Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris continue to battle for the Championship lead, the McLaren pair warn of McLaren’s weaknesses.
Despite entering the Imola GP weekend as heavy favourites, McLaren failed to secure victory.
It was instead Max Verstappen and Red Bull, who themselves were slightly surprised by the RB21’s race pace, who took the chequered flag.
With the notoriously demanding Monaco GP weekend about to commence, both McLaren drivers are weary of their rivals.
Why Monaco could be McLaren’s biggest test
Until now, McLaren have enjoyed a reasonable advantage over their rivals with the MCL39.
Across all circuit configurations and track conditions, Andrea Stella’s team have been the benchmark.
Even on days when Verstappen and Red Bull have triumphed, they have often relied on blunders from McLaren – which they strive to capitalise on.
Still, the papaya team are favourites to claim both the drivers and constructors title – assuming the pecking order does not evolve dramatically.
Then again, it would be slightly premature to suggest the title battle will only be between Piastri and Norris.
Imola showed that Red Bull have progressed with the RB21, especially in comparison to the first two rounds.
Monaco will arguably be McLaren’s biggest challenge this year so far. The unique characteristics of the Monte Carlo circuit forces all teams to bring high-downforce specifications.
Qualifying, even with mandatory two-stops, can make or break your weekend.
In this context, front-runners like McLaren are more vulnerable than ever to upsets this weekend.
As last weekend in Imola demonstrated, when both Ferrari’s and Kimi Antonelli were eliminated in Q2, the midfield are more than capable of disrupting the established order.
Even assuming the MCL39 is the fastest car this weekend, there is no margin for error at the Woking squad.
Norris and Piastri reveal concerns
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s action, Oscar Piastri discussed the MCL39’s characteristics.
“I think at Imola the car was feeling really good on Saturday.
“It is a bit difficult, a little bit unpredictable when you get to the limit, I would say. It clearly has a lot of pace there.
“But it’s not always the easiest to extract just from – not being able to fully predict what’s going to happen.”
“Every now and again it is better than what is has been at other races but when you get right to the limit.
“Sometimes it can do slightly unexpected things but overall it’s still a very strong car.”
On the other side of the garage, Norris explains that McLaren could face significant pressure in Monaco.
He does not believe McLaren can be complacent, despite some of their more impressive performances in 2025:
“It still shows that we are vulnerable in certain areas.
“We still have things to improve on, even though we’ve had some great weekends where we’ve looked dominant and we have been dominant.
“Clearly we still have some weaknesses. So it’s focusing on the good stuff but try and work on those weaknesses and improve.
“That’s F1, that’s life every day in F1.”
Main photo: Steven Tee/LAT Images
