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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, 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 make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team 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 continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

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

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

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

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

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

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

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.