Over the close season, every bit of precision engineering imaginable (within the rules) has gone into producing outstanding cars for the 2025 campaign. Pre-season testing may have given some hints of how things were shaping up, but the first true test came with the opening race of the season in Melbourne.
A key question is whether Red Bull, so dominant over the last four years as Max Verstappen has made the driver’s championship his personal property, can cope now that Adrian Newey has moved on to Aston Martin.
Last year may have seen another Verstappen triumph, but after Newey’s departure, car performance deteriorated and while he was too far ahead to be caught, Red Bull were beaten to the constructor’s championship by McLaren.
This leaves the question of whether McLaren will dominate this year. Things got off to the perfect start when Lando Norris won in Melbourne, although the race was as much about the risks of a crash as conditions fluctuated perilously between wet and dry than mechanical excellence.
Nonetheless, by beating Verstappen into second place, a marker was laid down. Will this season be a procession for Norris and McLaren, just as it was in recent years for Verstappen and Red Bull?
Mercedes driver George Russell believes so, commenting after the race that the McLaren advantage over the rest of the field is “bigger than Red Bull has ever had” and they could win every race this year.
However, the apparent technical supremacy McLaren has now attained is not without controversy. Red Bull believes McLaren is bending the rules on the flexibility of rear wings to reduce drag, but Norris told the BBC there will be no need to change the car before the Chinese Grand Prix as it will pass any pre-race tests.
“We don’t have to change anything. Ours was fine. In fact, ours was too good and we are not pushing the limits enough,” he remarked.
McLaren may be pushing the limits too much for the rest of the field, however.