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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 challenge they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points 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 messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

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

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred 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 not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.