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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their method to running the team.

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

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

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win 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 race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. 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 currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, 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 was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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