The 2025 System 1 championship was presupposed to be the yr of steadiness. The final earlier than the main regulatory overhaul in 2026, the ultimate season beneath guidelines that every one groups now know by coronary heart. Historically, in these moments, the gaps slender, philosophies align, tasks are refined, and the championship comes alive in a compact, unpredictable battle. However this time, that hasn’t occurred.
After the Spanish Grand Prix, the standings inform a distinct story: on the high, alone and shining, stands McLaren. 362 factors, a transparent and flawless supremacy. A group that has discovered its heart: technical coherence, inside concord, two drivers in a state of grace, and a automotive that appears to suit each monitor like a tailored glove. It’s a world constructed on order, steadiness, readability. A white world.
Then there’s the remainder. Ferrari, Crimson Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin: a parallel universe the place the identical guidelines generate chaos, instability, confusion. It’s a grid the place updates chase one another and crises multiply. Every group fights its personal battle – inside, technical, identity-driven – however none discover a clear route. It’s a world in disarray. A black world.
The distinction isn’t simply within the outcomes. It’s in how the groups function. McLaren is a single physique, inhaling unison. Each resolution, each improvement, each technique appears a part of a larger design. The others, as a substitute, scramble after ever-new issues, short-term options, a gift slipping away. Crimson Bull is carrying itself down beneath inside friction and its reliance on Max. Mercedes retains reinventing itself with out discovering peace. Ferrari swings between false hopes and flashes of competitiveness. In the meantime, Aston Martin, ready for Adrian Newey, appears to have misplaced its course.
Ferrari’s second place – 165 factors, over 190 behind McLaren – completely represents the paradox of this season: there’s no title combat, solely an countless pursuit that adjustments from race to race, with out ever actually shifting the general steadiness. It’s as if the championship is working on two parallel tracks destined by no means to fulfill.
And on this dysfunction, the numbers betray the emotions: Ferrari followers have a look at that second place with a mixture of shock and bitterness. Being second like this, with out ever giving the impression of being within the combat, leaves a bittersweet style. It’s not a rebirth, however a void crammed by others’ absence. A place that tells extra concerning the struggles of others than an actual step ahead. By no means greater than this yr has second place actually been the primary of the losers.
And so, within the yr that ought to have marked convergence, System 1 delivers its reverse: a binary championship, product of black and white. On one facet, the perfection of those that discovered their path. On the opposite, the disorientation of these attempting to outlive amid uncertainty. Each weekend shuffles the deck, however the winner stays the identical. It’s a single-lane world championship. No battle, no narrative twists.
2026 is simply across the nook, however for now, on this 2025, System 1 resides by means of an irregular second like by no means earlier than: a dominance that fails to excite and a chase that by no means materializes. A narrative suspended, frozen in two disconnected realities.
Two instructions. No assembly level. No gray space. Solely black and white.