Lando Norris warns struggles with slow corners might be how McLaren fail to win the F1 2025 Bahrain GP as the 25-year-old warns his team Red Bull and Max Verstappen might not be far away.
The Brit and Oscar Piastri have emerged as the Formula 1 title protagonists in the early rounds of the ongoing season and seem destined to thug it out across the remaining 20 Grand Prix after this weekend.
The advantage of their papaya-and-black car is so overwhelming that George Russell predicted they could win every single race of the year as they show awesome tyre management, although that prophecy didn’t come to pass as Red Bull won in Japan.
And the writing on the wall might not be favourable for Norris and McLaren at the F1 2025 Bahrain GP as he warns Red Bull and Verstappen could steal win at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, April 13.
“Red Bull are close,” Norris said to members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “They’re not that much off, maybe tenth at times, or maybe two tenths maximum, but that’s it. That’s still not a lot of time.
“So, I think maybe this weekend, potentially we struggle a bit more in qualifying. I hope with what we proved in the preseason test, our race pace is strong.
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“Maybe with the hotter temperatures our race space can still be very strong, but I don’t expect us to be as comfortable in qualifying. Hopefully I’m wrong, hopefully it’s an easy weekend for us. We’ll wait and see.”
Why might McLaren struggle at F1 2025 Bahrain GP? Who can take advantage?
On paper, the 57 laps in Bahrain should suit McLaren thanks to the high degradation of the tyres due to the higher temperatures of the Middle East, as well as the high-speed corners the team has excelled at since mid-2023.
But for their star driver and the championship leader, he believes a weakness in the slow speed corners such as Turn 1, Turn 8 and Turn 10 could leave them vulnerable to the chasing pack.
“Unlikely, just for my feelings at the minute,” Norris added, of expecting an easy weekend. “We’ve had a great start to the season.
“I know a lot of things are amazing, but this is a much slower speed circuit. It’s a much slower speed circuit than the last few weekends.
“We know that’s one of our weaker areas. So, I’m not expecting bad things, I’m just expecting a trickier weekend than the last few.”
Based on early indicators from previous rounds, the slower speed corners in Bahrain could play into the strengths of Ferrari and Mercedes, both of which have shown good rotation in these areas.
Additionally, it could also benefit Verstappen too thanks to his famed aggressive driving style and sharp front end that allows him to come off the brakes sooner and pivot his Red Bull into the corner.
