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

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

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

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Stella said following the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing good race 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 execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

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

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

Both 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 claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand 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 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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