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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the way we plan competing. This remains the way in which we tackle racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. 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 recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max 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 Competitive Order?

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

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

So the two tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will become clear.