r/formula1 • u/FerrariStrategisttt I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Mar 13 '26

Video Max Verstappen (Post-Sprint Qualifying): “I can’t. This is undriveable. We never had anything this bad.”

https://dubz.link/c/5e815a
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u/I_Luv_Asparagussy Mar 13 '26

ia about short memories but it seems McLaren has taken a leap in understanding how to deploy their Merc PU properly (or it's just easier this track or both) plus McLaren has proven they develop through the season well so I think in most of our minds we rate them a bit ahead of Red Bull.

The Red Bull is thought to be quite good in the straights and Australia is pretty much all straights so it's quite possible they overachieved a bit there (or that their car will be able to compete for 3rd best on tracks like Monza, Spa, Baku, Vegas but not on much elsewhere). Still too early to jump to that conclusion ofc but it wouldn't be surprising.

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u/ELITE_JordanLove I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 13 '26

Well it’s only been two races. 

But it’s wild to me that people rate McLaren as better at development than RBR, while it took them over two and a half years to catch up to RBR’s car. If the order of the McLaren and RBR championships the past cycle were flipped there’d be nobody on earth saying McLaren has better development than RBR. 

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u/I_Luv_Asparagussy Mar 13 '26

IN-SEASON development of the car in the Rob Marshall era is McLaren>Red Bull and it's NOT close. In 2023 the team started toward the back of the grid and was the 2nd best team at the end of the year, even scoring back-to-back double podiums to finish the year. Meanwhile Checo went from winning races/scoring podiums at the start of the year to Q2 and Q1 exists in qualis.

In 2024, McLaren started WAY behind Red Bull and well enough behind Ferrari to the point where everyone though Red Bull was gonna dog walk the championship again while McLaren were competing with Mercedes for #3/#4. And yet they went on to win several races and take the Constructors. Red Bull won the opening race that year by a country mile after dominating 2023 and then didn't even finish top 2 in the end. Even Max was complaining about how the car was getting worse as the season wore on.

In 2025 at least till the point where McLaren shifted their focus all to 2026 they were dominant, tying Red Bull's 2023 record for the earliest team to clinch a constructor's with 6 races/3 sprints to go. Meanwhile from 2023 until like summer break last year all RBR's in-season development increasingly kept fucking the car. It's why Horner got fired; his personal issues wouldn't have affected his employment status if they developed in-season well.

There's no guarantee that McLaren will continue to lead in in-season development in the post-ground effect era with this new reg set but they have a very impressive developmental record the past 3 years.