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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to change their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the way we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won 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 races to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view 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 team driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and continue delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship 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 Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently 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 summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will emerge.