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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 fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said following the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed 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 accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

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

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. 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 Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.