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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually 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 Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: 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 somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently 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.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.