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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

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

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

Before the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.