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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

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

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

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

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.