🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

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

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

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.