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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we plan racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead 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 experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically 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 benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

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

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

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.