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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they face 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 continue to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap 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 lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles 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 Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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