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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, 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 determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the situation 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 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 best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

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

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos 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 now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

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