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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 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 close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider 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 technical development into their 2025 design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it 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 anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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 becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.