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Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their strategy 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 is the approach we plan competing. This remains the way in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He won the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella commented after the race in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

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

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of innovation into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second slower than Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time a certain indication of comparative speed becomes apparent.

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