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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum 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 regulation change coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult 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 less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed 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 the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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