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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 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 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

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

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum 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 scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

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 believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one 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 constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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