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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 difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the championship 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 win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

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

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race 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 Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma 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 coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, 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 started this season with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

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

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

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

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

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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

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