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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as 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 lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront 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 rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult 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 hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

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

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, 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 scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

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