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

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

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

"This is the way we plan competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

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

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation 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 last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good 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 execute a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

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

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, 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 season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny 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 relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.