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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their method to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

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

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless 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 someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - 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 racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.