🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method 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 represents the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull 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 comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

Every team this year have had to face 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 F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

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 constructors are looking next year.

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

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

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.