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

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

They will continue to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This is the way we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea 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 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact 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 This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

The McLaren team began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

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

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will suit him; 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 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 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February 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 emerge.