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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

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

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period 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 rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

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