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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of 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 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently look very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently 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 four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Until the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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