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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

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

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, 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 final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Andrea Stella commented following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Development on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

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

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing good weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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 was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - 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 get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

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 F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will become clear.