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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the gap 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 past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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 mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of 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 was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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