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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their method to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the approach we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money 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 remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.