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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide both 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 method in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella commented following the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on This Year's Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time 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 began this season with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus 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 stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - 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 get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.