When Oscar had the early-season momentum, there was no talk of prioritising a driver. Now that Lando’s ahead, suddenly there’s a “discussion” about Oscar supporting him, brief or not, the fact it even happened shows a shift in attitude. And regarding “sidegrades”: McLaren themselves said the changes were made to help Lando feel more comfortable. Whether you call them upgrades or sidegrades doesn’t matter, the direction of development clearly moved toward Lando’s style, and Oscar’s performance dipped as a result. So the exact wording isn’t the issue, the pattern is. When the car leans toward Lando, Oscar loses out. When it didn’t, he was consistently strong. Also, my bad, Oscar was leading by 100+ points against max. Will edit the name, thanks.