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Must 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 Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we intend competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled 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 considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.