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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled 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 catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue executing good 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 execute a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed 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 completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

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 prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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