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

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

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team 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 last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong 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 the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

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

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

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

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well 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 the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted 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 Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will become clear.