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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 face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix 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 Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, 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 catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren began this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear 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 much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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