🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This represents the approach we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

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 long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren began this season with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.