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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Sebastian 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 opportunities to extend 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 mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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 mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit 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 best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. 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 the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

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

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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 faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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