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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively 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 reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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