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

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

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

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. 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 best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing 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 choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"So definitely 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 another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted 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 driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority 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 pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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