🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella said after the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

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

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven 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 Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.