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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

Every team this season 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 significant regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of 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.