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Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

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

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

"This is the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella stated following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the gap on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We rely on the past experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to 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 the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted 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 racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes 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 sense of comparative speed emerges.

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