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Do 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 confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend 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 lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. 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 rules were modified.

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

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

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.