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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their approach to managing 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 is the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

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

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race 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 mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma 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 significant regulation change coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect 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 in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim 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 Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines 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 sense of comparative speed emerges.

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