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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

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

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

Every team this year have had to face 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 major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. 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 regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky 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 Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; 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 described many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

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

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.