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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. 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.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

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

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.