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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen 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 race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

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

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

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year 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 Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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