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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 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 missed out on the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from under their noses.

Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore 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 someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year 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 change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's only at the first race that the true and accurate situation will emerge.