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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

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

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race 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."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of for 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 situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good race 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 execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and 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 completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

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

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

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