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

McLaren are fully conscious of the obstacle they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated after the Grand Prix 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 decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past 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 third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

The McLaren team began this year 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 reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

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 face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

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 prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.