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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] 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 year have had to face the dilemma 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 2026.

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

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong 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 flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult 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 new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred 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 Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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