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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, 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 outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

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

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

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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