The performance of constructors\u2019 champions McLaren in 2025 has left their closest rivals wondering how they have gained such an advantage over them so far this season.<\/p>\n
McLaren are dominating this season, winning nine of the first 12 rounds of the championship and scoring more than double the points of closest rivals Ferrari.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri<\/a> and Lando Norris are also clear ahead in the drivers\u2019 standings, with Piastri holding a slim, eight-point lead over his team mate. The two McLaren drivers are the clear favourites for this year\u2019s title.<\/p>\n Many expected the 2025 season would see a close fight between many teams. McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari all won multiple races over the closing stages of last season and the coming change in regulations for 2026 gave teams a reason not to depart too far from their current designs.<\/p>\n However, McLaren appear to have found a major performance gain for the third consecutive season. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen<\/a> is 69 points adrift of leader Piastri.<\/p>\n Mercedes driver George Russell<\/a> admitted his team \u201cdon\u2019t really know exactly why\u201d McLaren enjoy such a large advantage over the rest of the field.<\/p>\n \u201cThey seem very good on the tyres,\u201d he said in response to a question from RaceFans. \u201cThey seem very good in hot races. Clearly their updates are working as they expect and I think when you find yourself on the right tracks of this development slope, the rewards are endless, and they\u2019ve clearly found that perfect path.<\/p>\n Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThese cars, these regulations, are not easy. I think we\u2019re all looking forward to a change of regs. It\u2019s not going to be easy next year, but the cars do seem a little bit more conventional. But then obviously we\u2019re going to have the challenges with the power unit and the batteries, so that\u2019s a secondary factor.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrari are the closest challengers to McLaren in the constructors\u2019 championship, but have only half their points tally. Charles Leclerc<\/a> said he had been left unable to comprehend the pace of the championship leaders at times in the first half of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish I knew what made McLaren so fast this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure, they\u2019ve done a significant step forward, something that I don\u2019t think many of us expected. Because when you get to the last year of those regulations, everything tends to converge a little bit. But this year they just did a big step forward.<\/p>\n \u201cI doubt that it\u2019s coming from one thing. It never comes from only one thing. I think it\u2019s just many different things that they are doing better than others, which makes a big difference at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he had been particularly impressed by McLaren\u2019s pace in the final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix. As track temperatures rose over 40C, Leclerc was the quickest driver not in a McLaren, but was over eight tenths of a second slower than Piastri.<\/p>\n