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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This remains the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to 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 his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal 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 example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.