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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the manner we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title 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 McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined 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 third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing 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 choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Lewis 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 claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

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

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.