🔗 Share this article

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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their approach to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

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

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren 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 major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

The McLaren team started this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.