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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their method 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 fairness and balance.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the conundrum of 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 scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, 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 continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

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

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

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