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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently 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 last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules 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 year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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