George Russell is concerned about McLaren’s performance (Image: Getty)
has tipped to dominate the 2025 F1 season, suggesting that the Woking-based squad can already turn their attention towards the new regulations in 2026 after arriving in Melbourne with the fastest car. were the talk of the paddock during pre-season after and Oscar Piastri posted some impressive long-run simulation times, and Andrea Stella’s squad delivered on this promise at the season opener in Melbourne.
Norris claimed the 10th pole position of his F1 career, pipping Piastri to the top spot in front of the Australian’s home crowd. The suspicion in the paddock is that at more conventional circuits, ‘s four-tenth advantage will be even more significant.
“They’re at such an advantage because they can stop development now and go fully on ‘26 as it’s difficult to overcome that gap,” Russell said after qualifying on Saturday. started the [2024] season off so far ahead of everyone, but I don’t think people overtook them in terms of development.
“They brought some things to the car and went backwards – or had some things – let’s say – clarified, and went backwards. If you’ve got a six tenths advantage at the start of the year, nobody finds six tenths throughout the course of a year. So are in prime position for now and the future.”
Lando Norris is on pole position for the Australian Grand Prix (Image: Getty)
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