Can McLaren Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Max Verstappen? - F1 Q&A

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to alter their approach to running the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the way we plan racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to remain equitable, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the season and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be determined by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically 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 succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

McLaren started this season with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

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

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't execute a perfect performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.