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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

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

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

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team 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 championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

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

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

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

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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