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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 difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from under their noses.

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

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

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

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

The McLaren team began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will become clear.