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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

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

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

The McLaren team began this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of 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 significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

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 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 Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; 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 change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.