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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their approach to running the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

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

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella said following the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period 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 changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result 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 Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases 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 "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions 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 ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.