McLaren emerged from F1 pre-season testing at the team to beat, effectively picking up from where they left off at the end of 2024.
Although it is difficult to draw too many conclusions from pre-season testing due to varying fuel loads and engine modes being turned down, Lando Norris’ blistering pace during the race runs on the second day caught everyone’s eye.
Race runs are always one of the most reliable indicators of competitiveness during testing because fuel loads are roughly the same as what they would take into a full race distance.
Norris’ run on Thursday meant he would have won the Bahrain Grand Prix by 30 seconds to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, as he was at least 0.5s faster per-lap.
Over the course of a lap this advantage appears to come down, with Norris only 0.2s faster than George Russell. GPS data puts Mercedes as the clear second-best to McLaren, although Ferrari was thought to be sandbagging as Lewis Hamilton got up to speed with how they operate trackside.
The MCL39 is an evaluation of the car that ended McLaren’s Constructors’ title drought since 1998, and it appears they have made significant improvements. However, there is one element they changed that could lead to reliability problems according to The Race.
McLaren’s ‘extreme’ front suspension change could lead to reliability issues
One of the reasons McLaren had the upper hand with their 2024 was the pull rod front suspension, which not only gave them aerodynamic benefits but also enabled them to have a better car setup window.
The current generation of ground-effect cars are very sensitive to ride height, which makes them tricky to get into the right setup window. The McLaren and Red Bull, two of the quickest cars on the grid, use the pull-rod layout.
Ferrari has now switch to this layout on Hamilton’s car, but McLaren appears to have made an extra change this year that caught the eye of Red Bull technical chief Pierre Wache according to The Race’s report.
McLaren has repositioned two of the wishbones and steering arms, which generates an aggressive anti-dive layout that exposes the front suspension components to greater structural forces than a normal layout would have.
According to the report, it could require extra compromises in terms of needing to “bulk up” components to make sure they are strong enough, which in turn increases weight.
McLaren made ‘clever’ change to aerodynamic surfaces in testing
As ever in F1 there is no one single component that is an outlier for performance, with the MCL39 being a great all-round package.
Some in the F1 paddock think that McLaren is making ‘clever’ changes to the aerodynamic surfaces of their car, including the flexing of their bodywork under load.
READ MORE: FIA staff heading to Ferrari factory to investigate Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 car after Red Bull complaint
The FIA has issued a technical directive which aims to prevent teams from breaking the rules in this area, after McLaren was found to have used a Mini-DRS system that went against the spirit of what was agreed between teams.
Teams will be subject to more stringent tests on their rear wings at Melbourne while another technical directive will come into effect at the Spanish GP relating to front wings, another key area that McLaren is thought to have been exploiting more than others.
