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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race 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.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past 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 championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate 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 Formula 1, it's typically 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 advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, 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 Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

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

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

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

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will become clear.