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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 difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view 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 only be led by mathematics."

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

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation 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 benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths 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 Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting 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 switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.