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McLaren will enter the 2025 season as favorites in the Constructors’ Championship. That’s after ending their 26-year title drought at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend.
McLaren scored fewer wins than Red Bull (six against nine) and fewer podiums than Ferrari (21 against 22). But they won the title because they were the most consistent and remarkably avoided all the official DNFs.
In about a year’s time there will be a major regulatory change that could reshuffle the F1 package. For now, though, teams only want to make minor changes over the winter.
Position | The constructors’ rankings | Points |
1 | 666 | |
2 | 652 | |
3 | 589 | |
4 | 468 | |
5 | 94 | |
6 | 65 | |
7 | 58 | |
8 | 46 | |
9 | 17 | |
10 | Sauber F1 team | 4 |
Therefore, the competitive landscape should be largely the same in 2025, although even a relative gain of a tenth at the front could be decisive. Number two Ferrari will be hoping that next year will finally be their year after signing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to partner Charles Leclerc.
In the meantime, Red Bull will replace Sergio Perezwho stopped them this year. Perez scored just 25.8% of the team’s points, and while neither Liam Lawson nor Yuki Tsunoda are likely to challenge Verstappen, they should at least be closer.
Since no midfield team is likely to make a sudden breakthrough, it will remain that way Mercedeswho were clearly the fourth best this season. They haven’t yet delivered a competitive car in the ground effects era, but in 2024 they were sometimes looking closer than ever.
McLaren may have one advantage over their direct rivals as they retain the same driver line-up. Red Bull is going to promote a driver from RB, Ferrari has exchanged Sainz for Hamilton and Mercedes has hired Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli is a particularly intriguing signing, who is on the verge of becoming the third-youngest driver in F1 history. The two drivers above him on that list – Verstappen and Lance Stroll – both started for midfield teams.
The 18-year-old finished sixth in his only Formula 2 season, although he missed the last two races in Abu Dhabi. His total of two wins and three podiums was perhaps lower than many expected.
Still CEO of McLaren Racing Bag Brown supports Antonelli to be ‘great’ in 2025. He sees him as F1’s next young elite talent after the rise of Lando Norris And Oscar Piastri.
“Lewis and Charles, Max is punching above his weight – we’ll see who his teammate will be,” Brown told Sky Sports F1. “George Russell is great, I expect Kimi Antonelli, like Oscar and Lando, to be great.
“Those are the obvious competitors, but I also think that given how competitive the sport is, I wouldn’t rule out other teams participating.”
Brown’s counterpart Toto Wolff tries to manage expectations for Antonelli in his rookie year. He may see it as a learning period for the Italian ahead of the new era of F1.
But it’s not hard to imagine him putting in a better qualifying performance than Hamilton in 2024. George Russell beat the veteran 19-5, lowering the bar for the new man.
Hamilton helped Antonelli this year prior to his move to Ferrari. Perhaps he sees similarities with his own rookie season, in which he was pushed straight to McLaren.
Mercedes coordinator Stephen Lord announced this Hamilton wrote an ’emotional’ message to Antonelli on the walls of Mercedes’ roving racing base. He wished him the best of luck and told him to treat the team with care.
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