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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

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

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? 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 pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.