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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as 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 title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely 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 [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian 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 Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship 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 question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times 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 slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Barcelona 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 prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.