🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember 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 title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming 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 long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Both 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 now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred 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 Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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