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Do 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 the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix 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 Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

Each of 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 claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.