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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to managing the team.

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

"This is the approach we plan competing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to 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 Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case 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 succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this season with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship 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 question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

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

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.