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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the approach we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember 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 championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

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

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

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing next year.

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 scrutiny of the press.

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

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