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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 well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the manner we plan competing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

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

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

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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