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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 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 introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

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

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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