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

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

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as 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 Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to 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 closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of for 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 Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

The McLaren team started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed 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 City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

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