🔗 Share this article

Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

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

"This is the approach we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

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