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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season 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 getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all 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 struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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