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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances 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 rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money 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 caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season'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 in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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