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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their approach to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

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

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued 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 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

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

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.