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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the obstacle they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

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

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

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

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

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis 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 previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting 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 racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

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