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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to change their approach to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the manner we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain fair, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from under their noses.

Andrea Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

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

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. 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 last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

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

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

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 ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max 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?

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

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running 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 first time a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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