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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the approach we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum 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 coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

The McLaren team began this season with the best car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race 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 outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

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

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer 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 completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.