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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 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 typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

The McLaren team began this season with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, 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 large chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently much closer 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 summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would 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 Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

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