🔗 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 the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. 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?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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 qualifying 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 last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, 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 Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - 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 lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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