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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 face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the way we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, 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 catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

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

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

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