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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their method to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant 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 rules cycle, it can take a long time 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 rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times 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 moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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