🔗 Share this article

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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship 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 lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season 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 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say 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 understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

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