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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team 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 run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race 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 determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time 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 most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

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