PADDOCK INSIDER: Will McLaren remain the team to beat in Shanghai – or can a rival team spoil their early-season party?

A few days after a cracker of an opening race of the season in Melbourne, the Formula 1 paddock reconvened 8,050km north in Shanghai for round two – and the anticipation for what could be the sport’s closest-ever season showed no signs of dissipating.
Are McLaren the ones to beat again?
You’d struggle to find someone in the Shanghai paddock who didn’t put McLaren as favourites for back-to-back wins, so convincing was their pace in both dry and wet conditions in Australia.
Next Up
Related Articles
UnlockedQUIZ: 10 questions on the new World Champion Lando Norris
Piastri reveals lessons that will ‘only make me stronger’
Formula 1’s record-breaking 2025 season in numbers
F1 AcademyHaas name Countryman as 2026 F1 ACADEMY driver
Beyond The GridThe best of 2025, from Norris’ evolution to Brad Pitt’s ‘need for speed’
Marko ‘believed in me when others didn’t’ – Lindblad
