🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

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

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time 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 most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

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

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

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.