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

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

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall 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 title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

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

"We must continue maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction 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 Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.