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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we plan racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many 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 secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop 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 making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

McLaren started this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue 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 didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.