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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two 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 completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will become clear.