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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We view 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 led by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development 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 making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, 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 rules changed.

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

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season 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 switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

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

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

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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