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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix 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 led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season 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 constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles 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 Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

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