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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, 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 determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of 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 currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging 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 expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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