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

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

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

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

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and 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 currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - 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 racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.