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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

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

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

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 recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis 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 Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time 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 initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will emerge.