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

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

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss 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 recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to 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 closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's 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 regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team started this season with the best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in 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 season, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

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

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

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 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 season, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time 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 initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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