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Must 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 encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

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

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship 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 accurate basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping 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 driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

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

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir 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 complete and precise picture will emerge.