🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of 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 the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, 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 entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

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

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

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