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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season 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 team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, 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 last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued 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 decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a significant chance, 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 Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis 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 regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

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

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors 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 Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.