2025 Race 21 - Brazil

[The Black Knight]

I wonder if it is psychological.

Lando was very flaky in the second half of last season when he was in a close fight for his first F1 title and Oscar looked a lot stronger. Now Oscar is experiencing the same pressure for the first time in F1 and Lando seems to have learned from last season’s experience.

What you say is possible. He doesn't seem like someone that is easily phased by pressure though. I know the run in for a title fight is different but while the odd mistake would be understandable, the lack of pace is the biggest concern.

[Nitrodaze]

What you say is possible. He doesn't seem like someone that is easily phased by pressure though. I know the run in for a title fight is different but while the odd mistake would be understandable, the lack of pace is the biggest concern.

I think the upgrades have taken the car away from Oscar's preferences. Just as the initial design of the car favoured Oscar and not Norris. Somehow, McLaren is unable to build a car that suits both drivers perfectly. It is very hard to achieve that. That is a quality you would only find at Mercedes, even though they struggle with it sometimes.

Is Oscar done? I don't think so. There are clear signs that he has adapted to the current car. Las Vegas is his very best chance to cut the gap down. If he fails to do so, chances are the championship is lost to him. I have a sneaky suspicion that this would run to the wire. And it would cause a real headache for the McLaren management, to the point that any favouritism would become clear in the end.

[Nitrodaze]

What you say is possible. He doesn't seem like someone that is easily phased by pressure though. I know the run in for a title fight is different but while the odd mistake would be understandable, the lack of pace is the biggest concern.

I think the upgrades have taken the car away from Oscar's preferences. Just as the initial design of the car favoured Oscar and not Norris. Somehow, McLaren is unable to build a car that suits both drivers perfectly. It is very hard to achieve that. That is a quality you would only find at Mercedes, even though they struggle with it sometimes.

Is Oscar done? I don't think so. There are clear signs that he has adapted to the current car. Las Vegas is his very best chance to cut the gap down. If he fails to do so, chances are the championship is lost to him. I have a sneaky suspicion that this title battle would run to the wire. And it would cause a real headache for the McLaren management, to the point that any favouritism would become clear in the end.

It surprises me that there is not much said about how awful the stewarding has been this season. They seem to get progressively worst season by season. Poor Oscar!

[The Black Knight]

I think the upgrades have taken the car away from Oscar's preferences. Just as the initial design of the car favoured Oscar and not Norris. Somehow, McLaren is unable to build a car that suits both drivers perfectly. It is very hard to achieve that. That is a quality you would only find at Mercedes, even though they struggle with it sometimes.

Is Oscar done? I don't think so. There are clear signs that he has adapted to the current car. Las Vegas is his very best chance to cut the gap down. If he fails to do so, chances are the championship is lost to him. I have a sneaky suspicion that this title battle would run to the wire. And it would cause a real headache for the McLaren management, to the point that any favouritism would become clear in the end.

It surprises me that there is not much said about how awful the stewarding has been this season. They seem to get progressively worst season by season. Poor Oscar!

Adaptability is never an issue for Oscar. Engineers have frequently stated that he's one of the most adaptable drivers ever in F1 so I'd be surprised if that were the issue. Whichever McLaren F1 drivers wins it will deserve it. I like both McLaren drivers so I'll be delighted for whichever one wins it.

Stewarding is awful in F1 and has been for a very long time. It's a tough one to solve though because of the Global traversing of the sport. It'd be hard to find Stewards that want to commit to 24 weekends away from their family.

[Nitrodaze]

Adaptability is never an issue for Oscar. Engineers have frequently stated that he's one of the most adaptable drivers ever in F1 so I'd be surprised if that were the issue. Whichever McLaren F1 drivers wins it will deserve it. I like both McLaren drivers so I'll be delighted for whichever one wins it.

Stewarding is awful in F1 and has been for a very long time. It's a tough one to solve though because of the Global traversing of the sport. It'd be hard to find Stewards that want to commit to 24 weekends away from their family.

McLaren made critical suspension changes to address some of the difficulties that Norris was having with the car. It appears these suspension changes do not suit Oscar. He has to change his driving style to suit these new suspensions.

You have to take note that McLaren did not introduce these suspension changes until after they had won the constructors' championship or at least it was 100% certain that they would win it, as they would not want to take the risk otherwise.

Another thing to notice is that the car has become marginally slower, bringing it within the grasp of Red Bull and Mercedes. The car, prior to the changes, appear to be much faster and had a consistent gap to their closest rival. McLaren clearly was only willing to take the risk of making these changes after they had achieved winning the Constructor's championship.

This is the reason why Norris is being booed at most race tracks. The fans have sensed that McLaren may be favouring Norris over Oscar. A fifty-something drop in points is also not convincing for a driver with such an impeccable rate of progression.

As such, l for one is not convinced that there has been a drop in performance in Oscar's ability to drive the McLaren car. As we have seen in the past with drivers like Perez in his Redbull days, Hamilton in his later years at Mercedes, to name a few, the design philosophy of these teams moved away from these drivers, and their driving performance plunged as a result. This is what appears to be happening to Oscar at the moment.

After Hamilton submitted his improvement document to Ferrari, this could also be noticed to be happening to Hamilton at Ferrari. Those dominant weekends where Hamilton was clearly outperforming Leclerc, then that performance suddenly evaporates in qualifying. And his race pace, which was the most notable aspect of his weekend preparation also disappears in the race.

These are symptoms of the covert actions that happen within F1 teams that we have noticed for years.

That said, it is not clear why McLaren would cease to back their driver with the clear points advantage to win the driver's championship to help one who was struggling. That does not make sense ordinarily. But if you factor in the fact that there is no real risk to McLaren if they choose to try to level the playing field between both their driver, then it would be clear why they might have done it. I suspect that they did not achieve levelling the playing field but tipped it the Norris way.

It would be ironic if somehow Verstappen finds a way to steal the driver's championship from both McLaren drivers. It would be the funniest thing to happen in F1 in a while.

Whichever way you look at it, there would be question marks to a Norris championship win. I also suspect that McLaren has probably damaged their relationship with Oscar. It will not be apparent now, but when the bitterness of unfairly losing hits Oscar, it may manifest itself in the 2026 season. The trust would cease to be there between driver and team, which would be a shame.