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

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

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

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

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team 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 major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue executing good race 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 deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

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