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Do 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 encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

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

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

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually 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 face the conundrum of for 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 scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning 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 - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large 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 Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate 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 currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.