🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes 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 some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.