Change of leadership at the top
With his authoritative victory in Australia, Lando Norris ended Max Verstappen’s 1029-day streak as the leader of the championship, and an even longer one of 4648 days since a McLaren driver was last at the top of the standings (this last happened in June 2012 with Lewis Hamilton).
After the strong performance in Melbourne, where McLaren secured the entire front row of the grid, the Woking-based team now seems to be the favorite for the 2025 season, leading George Russell to state that McLaren might already stop their development program to focus on the regulatory changes for the upcoming year.
Andrea Stella urges calm
In the press conference, Lando Norris did not shy away from questions and openly admitted that McLaren was the favorite for the title. Andrea Stella, team principal of the British team, took a more cautious approach in statements reported by Automoto.it: “We need to see how the upcoming races go, so we can better understand the level of our competitors. For example, this weekend we didn’t see Ferrari, which in my opinion is not that far from us.” – the former Ferrari race engineer pointed out.
Andrea Stella also emphasized that he was not surprised by “the pace of Red Bull and Max Verstappen,” describing the Dutch driver as “always capable of managing complicated situations” like wet conditions. New answers will come starting from China, on a track that should once again favor the MCL39s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
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