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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice 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 car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths 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 Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

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

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.