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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

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

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

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development 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 ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial 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 constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.