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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to 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 remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver 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 The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, 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 switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue optimising the car performance and keep executing strong 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 execute a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.