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

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

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

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

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum 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 major regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start 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 - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue executing strong 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 execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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 previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines 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 a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

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