🔗 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 obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, 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 last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private 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 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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