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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

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

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront 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 significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome 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?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times 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 favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging 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 Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running 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 first time some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.