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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on This Year's Car?

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

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 considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this championship 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?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines 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 a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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