🔗 Share this article

Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their method to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

McLaren started this season with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.