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Must 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 encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started 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 finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

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

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

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand 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 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.