Priestley: McLaren left points on the table because they hesitated

Ferrari were already on the back foot ahead of this weekend's 2024 Formula 1 season finale, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as they trail McLaren by 21 points and Charles Leclerc will have a ten-place grid drop for Sunday's race.

While Lando Norris can’t get his hands on individual silverware and will have to settle for second at best after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wrapped up his fourth crown in a row two races ago, expectations are that the team Zak Brown and Andrea Stella built are in pole position to clinch a first constructors’ crown since 1998.

But what about the one everyone wants? The F1 Drivers' crown for McLaren? Next year will be the last before big regulation changes come into force and Priestley insists it’s almost a case of 2025 or never for a McLaren driver to follow in Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 footsteps.

“From the outside it looks like they’ve just switched it on but the recovery has been in the making for the last five or six years,” the man known as the F1 Elvis - Marc Priestley - told the Fuelling Around podcast that covered a host of other motorsport and motoring topics.

“They’ve been building the management structure in place, putting in new processes, and the whole company has been almost rebuilding from the inside out. I’ve still got a lot of friends there, I’ve been in and out of the company a lot in recent times, so I’ve seen this happening. For me it’s not really a surprise.

“The most exciting part of it all, I think, is we get the same cars, effectively, the same rules and we know they are now at the top of their game. 2025 could be a really interesting year for McLaren fans particularly."

Priestley continued: “In 2026, it’s the biggest change technically that Formula 1 has ever had in its history. The cars change, the power units change which means we’ve got something of a lottery in 2026 I guess - who knows who is going to come out on top?

"The upshot of that is 2025 could be McLaren's really big chance, who knows their only chance for a while and they’ve kind of got to make it work.

"We’ve got Aston Martin who we know are building in the background with Adrian Newey and another group of brilliant technical people with a lot of money behind them. We know Williams are building something pretty good as well. Who knows?

"When you get such a massive rule change it’s an opportunity for almost anybody, particularly in a budget-capped era that we’ve got right now where it’s a relatively level playing field, anyone could just do a brilliant job and catapult themselves up the order," explained Priestley.

At certain points in 2024, it looked like Norris could end Verstappen’s dominance. But the Dutchman held his nerve and capitalised on what Priestly details as McLaren's lack of winning know-how. Citing Canada when the safety car was called out as one example, it’s the fine margins that have made all the difference.

Having walked away from the pits in 2009 to pursue a media career, Priestley feels his former colleagues can view this year as part of their journey towards success again: “I can tell you from having been through this, from personal experience it doesn’t necessarily just come naturally.

“From everybody watching on from the outside you look at what Max and Red Bull have been doing and what Mercedes did before that, you sort of think: ‘Here’s McLaren now with a great car, why can’t they just deliver the same?’ But you have to build up to that.

“Red Bull and Max have got this recent history where they’ve got so much confidence and self-belief, they can make decisions quickly and instinctively on the pit wall - typically they’re generally right. McLaren are still kind of finding their feet in that regard and they’re learning how to win again. It seems like a strange thing to say but it’s true, you have to build the confidence to be able to make those snap decisions.

“If you look back over this season there’s been quite a few occurrences where McLaren have probably, if they’re honest, left points on the table because they maybe hesitated for a moment in terms of making a decision," ventured Priestley.