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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from under their noses.

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities 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 the numbers."

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

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

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season 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 usually the case 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 succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

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

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.