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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their method to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves 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 go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren started this season 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 evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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 consistently, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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 suspect most in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to understand 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 February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.