F1 News
McLaren, the new dominant force in F1? "Show what we are now capable of"
With their 2024 Constructors' championship, McLaren has now had a taste for a success they had gone without for more than two decades and a half, and now the team obviously, is hungry for more and set their sights on taking both the Drivers' title and defend the Constructors' in 2025, and do it all over again when the new regulations are implemented in the 2026 F1 season.
McLaren was by and large the strongest team in F1, particularly since the Miami Grand Prix which saw Red Bull Racing take a step back in terms of both performance and consistency. Speaking to Motorsport.com, McLaren's Engineering Technical Director, Neil Houldey, states what the Woking's based team's intentions are, and they do gleam with a certain type of ambition, which is natural in the championship winning team they have now become.
Mclaren's hunger stretches into 2026 as well
"I think there's an opportunity to win a championship in 2025 and in 2026, and of course, we want to do both," said Houldey. Of course, winning it will not be easy, since they still have to face competition from fierce rivals Red Bull Racing, yes, but also from Ferrari who chased them down in the Constructors' standings until the very last lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi in 2024. So, development will be key.
"There's no reason why these teams aren't going to be generating a lot of performance next season, and we've got to be there and be doing the same if we want to win the championship, which is obviously the aim."
Will McLaren be the new dominant force in F1?
Having stated that McLaren's focus is on 2025, he makes a confident claim that could very well raise their title contenders' eyebrow -or both-. "We know that the car can go faster. We can develop the car further."
"We know as a team every area can find ways of being more effective, more efficient, generating more and more performance in their own individual groups as well. So 2025 for us is the same as any other year, and an opportunity to show what McLaren are now capable of doing," concluded Houldey.
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