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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play 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 method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue executing strong 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 execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted 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 get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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