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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This is the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

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

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

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

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

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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