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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

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

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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 Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

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

"We must continue optimising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season 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 explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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