🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

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

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 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 Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often 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 four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now 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 particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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