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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember 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 claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, 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 last time the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, 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 outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season 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 Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running 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 initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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