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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they face 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 their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed 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 engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember 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 make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started this year with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes 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 indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.