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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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