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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to managing the team.

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

"This represents the way we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said after the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

McLaren began this year with the best car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep executing good weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; 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 many times this season. But not all struggle 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 switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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