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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious 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 alter their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue 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 versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

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

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; 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 described repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.