McLaren “quite far ahead”, Red Bull among chasing pack

Max Verstappen admits McLaren looks good across the board in 2025 as the reigning world champion believes Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes will trade blows in the battle for best of the rest.

Lando Norris won the first race of the season in Australia last weekend and will be looking to hammer home McLaren’s obvious pace advantage at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the year’s first sprint race also taking place in Shanghai.

Verstappen finished less than a second behind Norris for Red Bull in the changeable conditions in Melbourne, with the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking third and fourth respectively.

With a fully dry weekend expected in China, Norris and Oscar Piastri will be hoping to show the true speed of the McLaren – although Verstappen is already clear on how good it looks.

“They’re super strong,” he said. “I mean, I have a lot of respect for what they have done. You know, already last year and now they’re very fast. Yeah, very all-round, good everywhere.

“So I think that is just a fact. Now how big the gap is or whatever is difficult to say. I think the clear picture that you saw was that McLaren was quite far ahead. Because I don’t think I’m an idiot in the wet, but in the first stint I didn’t really have a lot of chance to fight.

“I think in general we just need to be better as a whole; if you compare that to McLaren, they’re good everywhere.

“It’s impossible to really answer fully. I think myself, so Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari were all quite close. And probably will differ a bit track to track.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

Despite McLaren being tipped to dominate at least the early part of 2025, Norris said the car “doesn’t suit my driving style at all”, and that it is a “tricky car to drive and to put together a lap”.

Verstappen was in a similar situation last year, winning races at the start of the campaign while not being completely happy with his Red Bull.

“His own McLaren? Maybe he was joking,” the Dutchman replied when told what Norris had said. “I don’t want to compare scenarios. For sure, last year, when we started, I was already complaining that some bits were not to my liking, but we were still winning.”

Photos from Chinese GP – Thursday