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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 challenge they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

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

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

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to 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 mathematics."

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

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma 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 coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. 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.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect 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 another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue 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 accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season'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 looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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