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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their approach 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 equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

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

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

Stella commented after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this year 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 finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. 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 last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.