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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

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

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus 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 stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, 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 Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.