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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we intend competing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won 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 Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major 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 considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title 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, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and 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 season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.