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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 well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following 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 led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering strong race 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 perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now 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 great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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