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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said following the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

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

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.