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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

McLaren began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

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

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.