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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase 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 rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming 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 catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

The McLaren team began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 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 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 introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

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

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

Until the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.