🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer 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 championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, 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 determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good 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 deliver a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: 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 Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Barcelona 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 media.

So the pair of sessions 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 always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.