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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their method to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This is the manner we plan racing. This is the method in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, 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 strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

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

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.