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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 obstacle they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong 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 continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging 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 benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well 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 most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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