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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 challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

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

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

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

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

Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

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