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Must 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 confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 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 title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect 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."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look 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.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.