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

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

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

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

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.