🔗 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 challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? 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 initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

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

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.