Will McLaren Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Max Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

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

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

They will persist to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the way in which we tackle racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case 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 succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Stella stated he believed Lando Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must keep optimising the car performance and keep delivering strong 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 deliver a perfect race."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 when he moved 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.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next season, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors preferred to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.