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Must McLaren Accept Reality 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 don't believe to alter their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the way we plan competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the final race of the championship and allowed Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella said after the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the past 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 make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, 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 changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

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

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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