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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

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

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

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

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

Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. 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?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case 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 succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

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

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult 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 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 Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.