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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 fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their method to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 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 makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance 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 control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes 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 understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly 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 struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.