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

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

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.