McLaren receive stern defence as 'cocky' question raised

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has defended McLaren after a question was raised whether the team has been "cocky" this season.

McLaren has made a strong start to its constructors' title defence, with Lando Norris having won in Australia and Oscar Piastri in China. 

In addition, both drivers claimed victory after starting from pole position, highlighting the strength of the MCL39. 

The team's performance in the opening rounds has seen Norris build a small eight-point lead in the drivers' title, whilst Piastri is only 10 points adrift. 

Steiner views the Woking-based outfit as the clear team to beat when it gets its strategy right; however, has recognised that mistakes have already proven costly for McLaren.

"I wouldn't say nobody can compete [with them]," Steiner said on the Red Flags podcast. "It is not as easy as it looks because you saw in the sprint, if they are not doing a perfect job, they still lose.

"They cannot make mistakes because there's always somebody waiting. They have to take it away from them. But sure, if they do a perfect job, I think they're the team to beat. 

"But as well, the other cars, they had a good distance to them, but they didn't lap them or anything.

"The Mercedes sometimes shows very good speed, very good speed. They just need a little bit more and they can get there [to McLaren], in my opinion."

Steiner defends McLaren

Whilst Piastri converted pole into victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, McLaren did not claim the first sprint win of the 2025 F1 season. 

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton defied the odds to secure sprint pole at the Shanghai International Circuit, before winning the 100km race comfortably. 

McLaren had been the favourites for sprint pole; however, the team chose to complete two laps in SQ3, whilst the other drivers completed just the one. 

It meant that when the circuit was at its best in the closing seconds of sprint qualifying, both Piastri and Norris did not have new tyres unlike those around them.

When asked by a co-host on the podcast if McLaren's sprint qualifying strategy was "cocky", Steiner rejected the claim and said: "I think they generally thought that was the better strategy, that the second lap would be faster. 

"They do one lap, put something in, and then do a second one, they must have had some data from the runs before.

"I don't think they are cocky. I don't think they're cocky, they really thought that was the best way to do it. 

"But obviously, as I said, a small mistake, or just not getting it perfect, and it happens to them and they [could] lose a race."