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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 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 closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate 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. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February 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 picture will emerge.