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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma 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 regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, 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 rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping 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 switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

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 struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

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