Monday paddock briefing: culture wars at McLaren, a junior driver grenade, Bottas dusts off the zero-pod, Williams explains Singapore, and Haas rolls out the stars and stripes for COTA.
McLaren’s culture shift, told through a pair of jeans
There are throwaway anecdotes, and then there are the ones that neatly explain an era. Ted Kravitz revealed a Sky colleague once got bounced out of the McLaren Technology Centre for turning up in denim under Ron Dennis. It’s a very Ron story — immaculate floors, immaculate rules, and not a thread out of place.
That was then. Under Zak Brown, McLaren’s mood music is different: looser around the edges, sharper on the stopwatch. The consensus from inside Woking is that the more human, ego-free ethos has helped keep big brains in the building during their 2025 front-running form. You don’t retain the people who make the car fast by making them feel small. You do it by letting them breathe, backing them, and making work a place they actually want to be. Whether you call that modern management or simply common sense, it’s been a competitive advantage.
Did McLaren just let a good one go?
Not everyone is applauding everything McLaren does, though. Former F1 driver Derek Daly didn’t tiptoe around it: dropping Alex Dunne from the junior programme was, in his words, a huge mistake. Dunne’s a tidy prospect in Formula 2, and if the paddock chatter proves right and Red Bull hoovers him up for the Racing Bulls pipeline, there’ll be some awkward glances in orange.
Driver development is brutal and often thankless. Timing matters as much as talent. But letting a high-ceiling youngster walk when you’re rebuilding the ladder from karts to F1? That’s the kind of decision that can sting three years down the road when the kid you released is suddenly banging wheels with your star graduate on a Sunday.
Bottas finally gets his W13 moment
Valtteri Bottas, in full Mercedes overalls once again, lit up a South Korean street run at the wheel of the infamous zero-pod W13. Call it unfinished business. He missed racing that concept in 2022 and, while the car’s competitive legacy is… complicated… it still looks outrageous at full chat between concrete.
The Finn’s public outing comes as he lines up his next chapter, with a Cadillac F1 move on the horizon. And as ever with Bottas, there’s a lightness to the way he handles these moments — a driver who’s seen the sharp end, won his races, and seems intent on enjoying the ride as much as the résumé.
Williams’ Singapore sting explained
James Vowles has been busy with the mop and bucket since Singapore qualifying. Williams had both cars disqualified after the FW47’s rear wings failed post-session checks, and the team boss says the root cause was decidedly unglamorous: systems not in place or out of date, right down to the tool used to measure DRS.
It’s the sort of administrative tripwire that makes engineers wince because it’s avoidable — and because it torpedoes a weekend before Sunday. The upside? Williams has found the weak points and says the processes are being rebuilt. In a cost-cap world, the fastest fix is the one that stops you giving away free performance (and free penalties).
Stars, stripes, and a home statement from Haas
It’s United States Grand Prix week, which means Haas is leaning into its identity again. COTA has become the team’s canvas for patriotic paint, and 2025 is no exception: an American-themed livery that wears its roots without apology. Special liveries don’t add downforce, but they do add energy around a team that thrives on its home crowd in Austin.
The timing’s handy, too. With the midfield brutal and points expensive, Haas will want every last decibel of support at a circuit that rewards a hooked-up car and a confident driver. If you’re going to swing, swing big at home.
The through line
Strip back the headlines and there’s a theme here: how you run a team matters. Culture helped McLaren keep its rocket ship pointed in the right direction. A misstep in a junior programme might cost them later. Williams’ procedures tripped them up in Singapore. Haas is using identity to fire up a weekend that could define its season.
F1 is never just about what happens at Turn 1. It’s the dozens of decisions made on Monday mornings, the people you keep, the ones you let go, and the standards you live by when no one’s watching. Austin’s up next. Plenty will be watching.
