Spitballing here, but I would imagine it is something like:
A: Haas is a clear "best of the rest" and/or has bridged a surprising amount of the gap to the front four (obviously the chances of actually catching them are negligible). From here they will develop the car aggressively to ensure a top-5 WCC spot; lots of $$, even at the cost of some '26 development.
B: About the same as last year; fighting P6-P8 in WCC; still some development plan but probably cut off after the first quarter of the season.
C: Regression from last year and the team will likely be P9 or P10 in WCC and will cut off development early.
But obviously nobody outside the team actually knows; hopefully there will be more elaboration on this.
Personally I think the team could finish as high as 5th in the WCC; I mean in Abu Dhabi they were not far off pole(!) and I still don't understand how Magnussen was so fast in Mexico. With margins tightening between all teams due to diminishing returns, combined with Aston, Alpine (even with Colapinto imo), and RB all having one-sided driver lineups and Williams and Sauber starting pretty far behind I think it is possible. If I had to bet I would put them P6 because the odds that
all of those teams have problems is quite low; at least one will probably make a jump over the winter.
"You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"
- Mark Twain
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