2024 was a year to remember for McLaren Racing, but our teams are already busy building towards, or deep into, their 2025 campaigns.   

The new Formula 1 season is just around the corner, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has just kicked off and there has already been an uplifting start to our third season in Formula E, while F1 Academy is also gearing up to return.  

Each series is full of exciting storylines and there are sure to be plenty of plot twists along the way. Here are a few things of the things you should be looking out for across the course of another packed motorsport season. 

1. Targeting Formula 1 titles  

Our F1 team enjoyed a trophy-laden campaign last year, as we won the Constructors’ Championship, along with maiden victories for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. 

In their second year as teammates, Lando and Oscar combined for six Grand Prix wins, two Sprint victories, and 21 podium appearances, with Lando finishing second in the Drivers’ Championship, and Oscar classifying fourth.  

Having gotten a taste for silverware, our ambitions continue: fight to retain the Constructors’ crown, and to win the Drivers’ title as well. It won’t be easy, given the strength of the opposition and the closeness of the teams at the top of the grid, but success is worth fighting for. 

“We’d like to go for the Constructors’ and the Drivers’ Championship,” CEO Zak Brown reasserted at F1’s Season Launch.

2. Starting on Oscar’s home turf 

For the first time since 2019, Formula 1’s season will begin in Australia, the race at which Lando made his debut.  

That means it will all get underway in Oscar’s backyard - nearly. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, which is just a stone’s throw from Albert Park. 

Oscar was one of the nominated ‘Grid Kids’ in Melbourne in 2015, having been identified as a future star. Safe to say he’s delivered on that promise. 

Oscar finished eighth on his Melbourne debut in 2023, and fourth in 2024. After his success last year, he returns to the Australian Grand Prix as a race winner for the first time. We’d anticipate a busy Melbourne Walk for him.

3. Lando-mania at Silverstone 

Formula 1 is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, a milestone we’re sure will be rightly commemorated through the season.  

The very first race took place at our home circuit in 1950, nearly 16 years before our own F1 debut in Monaco. Since racing at Silverstone for the first time as an F1 team that same year, McLaren have won the British Grand Prix on 14 occasions.  

In recent years, Lando and Oscar have been contenders for overall honours. Lando finished second in 2023, and third in 2024, and will be striving to climb onto the top step of the podium this year. 

For the first time at Silverstone, Lando will have his own grandstand area, called Landostand, where throngs of fans will cheer on our #4 from the outside of Stowe corner. 

4. A youthful INDYCAR attack 

This year, we've welcome Christian Lundgaard to Arrow McLaren in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, joining Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel. 

Christian has already turned heads in his three-year spell in INDYCAR, with one victory and three podiums, while Nolan is ready to tackle his first full campaign after a partial season in 2024.  

Pato has long since established himself as a front-runner and is gunning for that overall title and Indianapolis 500 success, following runner-up positions in 2022 and 2024.  

There will also be a fresh challenge for the INDYCAR crop in 2025, with last year’s inaugural exhibition event at The Thermal Club now a points-paying round of the series.  

5. Kyle gives it another crack 

A NASCAR champion, Rolex 24 at Daytona winner, and all-round dirt racing legend, Kyle Larson was hugely impressive throughout his debut at the Indianapolis 500 in 2024. 

Kyle qualified in fifth position on the grid and had a spell at the head of the field, leading for four laps. The now-32-year-old went on to finish in 18th position and was voted Rookie of the Year for his exploits. 

After wet weather foiled his attempts to run both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in 2024, Kyle will once again attempt to take on ‘The Double’ this season, flying straight to Charlotte from Indianapolis. 

6. Fighting at the front in Formula E 

The 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is already four rounds old, and it has been a bright start for NEOM McLaren, with Sam Bird and Taylor Barnard combining to hold second place in a closely contested Teams’ Championship. 

Sam, with 12 career victories, has firmly established his position among the most successful FE drivers, and continues his quest to add to his laurels.  

Taylor, fresh from Formula 2, became the youngest driver in FE history to score a podium, doing so at the opening round in São Paulo, before claiming back-to-back podiums in Jeddah. 

Jeddah’s event also brought Taylor his maiden FE Pole position, setting another ‘youngest-ever’ record. A first win feels firmly within reach.

7. Homestead here we come 

Formula E has competed in some iconic venues in its history, including in the United States, where Long Beach and New York have both hosted close wheel-to-wheel racing.  

For the first time, FE will head to renowned NASCAR venue, Homestead-Miami Speedway, for the next round of the season in April. 

There will also be twice the fun around the streets of Monaco, as for the first time, two rounds will be held in the Principality, at the start of May.  

Taylor and Sam also have trips to Tokyo, Shanghai, Jakarta and Berlin to look forward to, before rounding out Season 11 with a double-header on home soil in London in the summer.

8. The next step for our young guns 

It is set to be another year of learning and honing skills for the youngsters on our Driver Development programme.  

Ella Lloyd will contest her first full season in F1 Academy, having appeared as a wildcard in Singapore in 2024, finishing ninth in Race 1, before classifying in seventh in Race 2.  

Ella will dovetail her F1 Academy duties with a campaign in the British Formula 4 Championship, having taken four podiums as a rookie through 2024.  

After his domination of the Macau Grand Prix, Ugo Ugochukwu makes the move to Formula 3, alongside fellow Driver Development members Brando Badoer and Martinius Stenshorne, who last year claimed victory in Melbourne.  

There’s also a step up for Alex Dunne, who will compete in Formula 2, alongside a role as our Reserve and Development Driver in FE.

Dries van Langendonck, meanwhile, will remain in karting through 2025, as he seeks to continue his learning curve.