🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

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

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. 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 caught up since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

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 somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running 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 first time a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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