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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 challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny 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 becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.