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

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

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

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team 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 major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"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?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now much closer 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 Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

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

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

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

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

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