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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix 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 mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. 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 rules were modified.

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

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

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and 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 currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot 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.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors 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 media.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.