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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, 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 run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

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

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

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

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. 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 Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.