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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, 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 pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.