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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to alter their method to running the team.

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

"This is the manner we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

The McLaren team started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued 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 straightforward choice to switch focus 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 stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and continue delivering good race 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 perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently 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 ground-effect vehicles.

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

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.