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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

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

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team 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 stated following the race in Austin: "We look at 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 the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, 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 driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.