The Red Bull team's Max Verstappen reduced the gap in the championship standings by winning both the sprint and feature races at the Austin Grand Prix.
Lando Norris came in second position on Sunday to cut Oscar Piastri's points advantage to 14 points with five Grands Prix remaining.
Four-time championship winner Verstappen is now only 40 points behind Oscar Piastri going into this upcoming Mexican Grand Prix.
Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?
The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.
They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.
"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."
Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.
And he lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.
Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."
"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, 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 make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."
What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current 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 coming for the 2026 season.
In Formula 1, it's typically the situation 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 last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.
McLaren began this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.
They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.
Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.
"We must keep optimising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."
"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."
Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?
Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.
Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.
Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.
He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.
This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.
In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.
Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.
Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.
There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.
Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.
How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?
Until the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking next year.
The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.
So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.
But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.
