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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team 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 stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"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 in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team 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 - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

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

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

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

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

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

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.