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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We look at 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 exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good race 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 deliver 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 in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

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

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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