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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on 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 the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared 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 gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

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

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 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, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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