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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 difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

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

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

Stella said after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

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

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer 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 previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

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

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

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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