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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

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

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "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 driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring 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 start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all 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 Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February 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 complete and precise picture will become clear.