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

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

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

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

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

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

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

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring 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 beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large 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 Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

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

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will become clear.