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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

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

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

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

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

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

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

McLaren started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

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 slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim 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 driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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