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

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

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently 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 Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

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 changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny 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 emerges.

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