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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

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

Team principal 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 racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.