Can the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Halt Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to running the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we plan racing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

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

Why Did McLaren 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 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules changed.

The McLaren team started 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 finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

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

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

"Therefore we have a large opportunity, and the result of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

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

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 summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next season, nobody will know how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their first running of the new engines without the prying eyes of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.