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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

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

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

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma 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 Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

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 Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, 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 believe most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven 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 January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.