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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 obstacle they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

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

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

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

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

Until 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 initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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