🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team 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 major regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

The McLaren team started this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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