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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will persist to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember 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 mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season 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 case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor 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 Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season 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 switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, 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 Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.