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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 well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

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

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

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

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing next year.

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

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

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