🔗 Share this article

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

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

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case 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 Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

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

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, 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 switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

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