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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race 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 mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he previously. 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 summer break.

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

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando 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 switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.