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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "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 the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront 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 the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically 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 last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

McLaren started this year with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

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

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

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

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 really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

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