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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning 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 Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue executing good 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 flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around 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 transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

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 media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will emerge.