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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 challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the approach we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want 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 Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation 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 get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this season 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?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - 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 understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will become clear.