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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title 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 the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

The McLaren team started this year 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 finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, 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 Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

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

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.