🔗 Share this article

Must McLaren Accept Reality 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 Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to change their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean 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 closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths 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 Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed 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 Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.