McLaren is the favorite, but Ferrari is not giving up. This F1 battle could heat up tomorrow, when in the final practice session both teams will try to fine-tune their cars with the usual setup tweaks. It promises to be a very balanced fight, where tyre management will be crucial. And it is precisely this factor that causes the SF-25 to lose a significant amount of time compared to the MCL39.
McLaren very solid and ahead of Ferrari in tyre usage
McLaren and Mercedes appear as Ferrari’s main rivals for several reasons. Or perhaps it would be better to say that it is Ferrari that wants to rise to the top in order to compete at the front and challenge these two teams. Today, Red Bull was somewhat in the shadows, but this does not mean that Max Verstappen cannot be a protagonist in tomorrow’s qualifying session.
McLaren has found a good balance, working effectively from home with simulator studies. The MCL39’s balance is already very good in second practice. As Lando Norris also mentioned on Thursday, lowering rear downforce had been a major problem for the Woking team last year. That is why they studied a way to fix things without suffering too much.
In the first runs, we saw a car that was quite oversteering on exit—an excess of rotation appearing mainly in the second half of the corner. The reigning world champions therefore changed something to optimize the setup of the papaya-colored cars. A tweak to the initial setup made the rear of the car significantly more stable, and it seems to have worked.
The British car still tends to lighten in certain points, such as the change of direction between turns 7 and 8. Its biggest strength comes from the first three corners, where it gains enough on Mercedes and much more on Ferrari cars. This was exactly Brackley’s team strength in 2025, which in this first session builds the lap completely differently compared to last season.
The advantage in the very first sequence of the track comes from excellent front tyre activation, which is very difficult to bring up to temperature here. McLaren seems to be doing a great job in this regard. After all, we know well the capabilities of the British car in this aspect. Currently, the weakest point remains the third sector, which they will need to work on for FP3.
During FP2, the British team did not manage particularly significant results due to some technical issues, but the overall feeling with the car appeared better than in FP1. The drivers noticed concrete progress, even if there are still aspects to consolidate and points to perfect in view of the next sessions. The car behaves positively, with a solid base to work from to improve further.
FP1 had shown encouraging signs, but in second practice the limitations linked to incomplete clean laps made it difficult to fully understand the MCL39’s performance level. The car’s pace is still good, although McLaren stated that managing the soft tyres did not allow them to obtain clear reference points for a direct comparison. A lot of data was collected that will still be useful for the team.
The British team has already identified areas for improvement, confirming positive elements to continue working on. Compared to the 2024 season, the above issues no longer exist, and this is already an important milestone giving hope to the drivers and Andrea Stella. The feelings are positive: there is confidence in the car’s behavior and in the ability to manage the rest of the weekend in the best way to aim for victory.
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