Will McLaren Keep Maintaining Fair Play and Halt Verstappen? - Formula 1 Questions and Answers

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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their method to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the way we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 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 lost the title as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella commented after the race in Austin: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a team 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 last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship 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, it's uncertain the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times 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 previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

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

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.