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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively 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 wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma 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 major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's typically the case 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 get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren started this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - 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 driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

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