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

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

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 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 Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

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

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

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

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform 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 setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying 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 Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial 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 get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.