🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section 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 victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex 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 not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting 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 Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would 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?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.