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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Stella commented after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision 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 final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver 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?

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. 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 rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and 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, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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 face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.