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Do 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 encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to running the team.

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

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and 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 Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

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

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.