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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team 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.

The McLaren team began this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.