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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the manner we plan competing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma 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 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams 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 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.