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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando 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 under their noses.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

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 benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of 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 large chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult 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 difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle 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 face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.