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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the way we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of 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 coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as 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 believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will become clear.