F1 Today | Horner on 'strange' McLaren strength, Norris feared 'gamblers'

McLaren's MCL39's 'unusual' strength 

In the final laps of the race, Verstappen managed to keep up with Norris, which enabled him to take advantage of an error by the McLaren driver at Turn 6, moving the Dutchman to within DRS range of the McLaren driver. "We take a lot of encouragement out of that race, the pace we had at the end." On the eve of the relevant sessions of the race weekend, Red Bull was being written off as a potential race winner, with many slotting them behind Ferrari and Mercedes.

But in the end, it was Red Bull who emerged as McLaren's main contender. "The other teams, it was clear what the pecking order was today in terms of pace," added the British team principal before highlighting a 'strange' characteristic of McLaren's car, the MCL39's tyre management.

"I think it's different to every body, yes. And what's quite strange is that they enjoy great warm-up, but also, [a] very low degradation. Usually one comes at the expense of the other, so they've certainly, at this circuit, seem to have mastered that," he concluded.

The 2024 British Grand Prix ghost creeps in

"We lost out on a few races last year. Not even ones where it was a guaranteed win, but I think Silverstone was probably a guaranteed win. I don’t know what call we made, but it was a shocking one and we accepted that," said Norris to media during the post race press conference, before explaining in detail one of the fears he experiences when he's leading the pack in tough conditions.

"It’s a difficult situation being first and not knowing what to do with tyres. You just know someone behind will get it right behind you, because they’re going to gamble something, and it’ll work out for them. I didn’t want to lose out to someone in the middle of the pack who gambled and somehow won," added the 2025 Australian Grand Prix winner.

Hamilton signals rivals on SF-25's 'unlocked potential'

Speaking to GPblog and other media present at Albert Park after the race, Hamilton begins: "I don’t know if we had anywhere near the pace as maybe the McLaren’s had today, but I do think in the car there’s a lot more performance, I just think we didn’t unlock it this weekend," says the Briton.

With the F1 circus now traveling to China for the second round of the championship, Hamilton already pinpoints areas of improvement for Ferrari. "Many many things, I think set up wise, I'd set the car up just a lot different and position the car different in different parts of the race, different calls."