🔗 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 fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their approach 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 balance.

"This is the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

McLaren started this season with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. 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 Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.