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Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to running the team.

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

"This is the way we intend competing. This remains the way in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to our drivers."

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

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation 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 succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

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

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer 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 now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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