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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

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

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

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact 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."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren began this year with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often 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 it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules 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 get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

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