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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their method to running the team.

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

"This is the manner we plan competing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

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

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

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

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

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max 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 first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

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