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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

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

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins 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 dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

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

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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