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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

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

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

The McLaren team started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in 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 currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

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

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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 manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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