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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their approach to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

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

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

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor 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 regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward 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 remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race 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 racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; 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 explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.