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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

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 switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.