Max Verstappen believes he has now shed light on why McLaren has dominated F1 so comprehensively this season, suggesting he is described as “incredible to see.”
McLaren obviously owns the best cars, as evidenced by the builders’ standings, their mammoths are 299 points away from the second-place Ferrari, but have sewned the title before the summer break.
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It's a similar story for the driver's champion, with the title looking like a straight-up shootout between two drivers of the team, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
So far, in just three of the 14 games, Verstappen won the driver of another team twice with Mercedes's George Russell winning in Canada.
Piastri led McLaren's teammates in the driver's standings, although Norris won Hungary in his final race before the summer break.
Over the past 18 months, McLaren's MCL39 seems to keep tires alive longer than any other car on the grid. This led to a lot of speculation about the reasons, but when Red Bull Verstappen admitted that the smallest tire degradation did play a role, he highlighted another reason for their success-their medium speed.
McLaren's dominance shows no signs of abating (Getty image)
“Its tires are absolutely better,” Verstappen told the media. “But at the same time, I think their medium speed performance is incredible compared to everyone else I've said.
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“They didn’t lose the spin of the rear axle on the front axle, which is also incredible, and it’s something we have to try to achieve.”
Any mid-season improvement for competitors may be too late to catch rampant McLaren, but the rules changes that come into effect in the 2026 season may indicate changes in the Guards.
Meanwhile, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella responded to Verstappen's turn speed assessment.
McLaren's MCL39 has been the best car on the grid yet (Getty Images)
“It's easy because it can be answered by looking at the GPS data,” Stella replied. “When you look at the speed comparison with some other teams, the data says McLaren can produce the highest mid-angle velocity in the mid-speed corners.
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“So, I think the evaluation of Max is correct.
“We still have our weaknesses. For example, if you are on a corner of highways like Copse (such as Copse) or Pouhon, we are not the fastest cars. Again, it may be very low-speed cars, we are not the fastest cars.
“But most corners in the championship happen to be mid-speed corners, and of course in that range, our cars are the stats at hand, the best.”