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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race 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 the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to 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 determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked 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 many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors 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 first time some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.