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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their method to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This represents the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to face the dilemma of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start 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 the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the car performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes 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 Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

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