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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize 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 drivers' championship 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 question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

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 benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing next year.

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

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