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

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

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Sebastian 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 next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined 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 actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore 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."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, 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 Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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