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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 fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the approach we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum 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 coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team began this season with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must 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 race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult 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 suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.