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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 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 engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus 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 boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome 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 Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; 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 Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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