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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team 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 last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding 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 redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

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

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

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.