Will the McLaren team Continue Playing Fair and Halt Max Verstappen? - F1 Q&A

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

McLaren are well aware of the challenge they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend racing. This remains the method in which we approach racing, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

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

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. 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 the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Leclerc.

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

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is currently much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

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

The first test, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.