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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing 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 approach we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall 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 championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team 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 prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis 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 venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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