Will McLaren Keep Playing Fair and Stop Verstappen? - F1 Questions and Answers

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

McLaren are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to change their approach to running the team.

They will persist to provide both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to extend the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix 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."

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

All teams this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must keep maximising the performance and keep delivering good weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

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

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny 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 emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.