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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. 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 regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, 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 new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain 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 not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.