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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren began this season 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 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions 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 it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around 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 moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will emerge.