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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus 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 typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

The McLaren team started this season with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained 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 the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

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