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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma 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 F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning 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 - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

McLaren began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked 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 season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.