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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change 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 equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella commented following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix 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."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, 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 the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute 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 placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year 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 change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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