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

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

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap 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 rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of 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 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this season with the fastest car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying 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 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.