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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

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

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

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, 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 Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't 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 say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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