🔗 Share this article

Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the way we plan competing. This remains the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix 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 call as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to 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 the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong 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 - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed 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 accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this year, 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 four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Fernando 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.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.