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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions 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 confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season 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 updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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