🔗 Share this article

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen 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 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 Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember 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 determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

McLaren began this year 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 reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

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

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

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

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

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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 all struggle in this way.

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

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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

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