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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Kimi 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 the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team 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 go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

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

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

The McLaren team began this year with the best car, after investing 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 value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

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

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, 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 regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand 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 some kind of sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.