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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race 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 the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

McLaren began this year 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 experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 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 Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, 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 race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, 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 battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; 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 repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are looking 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 new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.