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Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we plan racing. This remains the method in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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 Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

The McLaren team started this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

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

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 claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of comparative speed emerges.

But, as always, it's only at the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.