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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the approach we plan racing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up 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.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, 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, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

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

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties 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 most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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