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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 challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

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

"This is the manner we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

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

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

Stella commented following the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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 consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two 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 his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Before 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 Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.