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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year 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 significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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 while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying 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 behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed 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 the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February 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 true and accurate situation will emerge.