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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This remains the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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 the calculations."

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

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times 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 previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya 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 sense of relative performance emerges.

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