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Do 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 Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready 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 beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, 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 full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging 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 the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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