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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 encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This is the manner we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella commented following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed 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 delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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