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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

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

"This represents the way we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

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