McLaren hit with “only chance for a while” warning for F1 drivers’ title

McLaren have a rare opportunity at the F1 drivers’ championship in 2025, their former mechanic has warned.

Lando Norris fell short in his pursuit of the title last season despite cutting the deficit to eventual champion, Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

But McLaren won the constructors’ championship and ended the year with the fastest car in Formula 1 which bodes well for the new season.

“From the outside it looks like they have just switched it on, but the recovery has been in the making for the last five or six years,” Marc Priestley told the Fuelling Around podcast.

“They’ve been building the management structure in place, putting in new processes, and the whole company has been almost rebuilding from the inside out.

“I have still got a lot of friends there. I have been in and out of the company a lot in recent times. I have seen this happening. For me it’s not really a surprise.

“The most exciting part of it all, I think, is we get the same cars, effectively, the same rules. We know they are now at the top of their game. 2025 could be a really interesting year for McClaren fans particularly.”

Last season, Norris finished second in the drivers’ standings while teammate Oscar Piastri was fourth.

McLaren to dominate F1?

This year is the final season before a major regulation change, which could prompt a new era of dominance similar to Red Bull’s, or beforehand Mercedes’.

Ex-McLaren mechanic Priestley has told his former team that their big chance to strike is now, while their car is guaranteed of its competitiveness.

Priestley said: “In 2026, it’s the biggest change technically that Formula 1 has ever had in its history.

“The cars change, the power units change. Which means we’ve got something of a lottery in 2026, I guess.

“Who knows who is going to come out on top?

“The upshot of that is 2025 could be McClaren’s really big chance, who knows their only chance for a while and they’ve kind of got to make it work.

“Typically the big teams will still be the big teams. But we’ve got Aston Martin who we know are building in the background with Adrian Newey and another group of brilliant technical people with a lot of money behind them.

“We know Williams are building something pretty good as well. Who knows?

“When you get such a massive rule change it’s an opportunity for almost anybody, particularly in a budget-capped era that we’ve got right now where it’s a relatively level playing field.

“Anyone could just do a brilliant job and catapult themselves up the order.”