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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, 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 run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella said after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change 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 long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and 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 consistently, anyway.

Lewis 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 was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle 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 face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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