Can the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Stop Verstappen? - Formula 1 Questions and Answers

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 obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella commented following the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

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

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

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the case that if a constructor gets it wrong at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

McLaren began this year with the fastest car, after investing a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a large chance, and the outcome of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on balance Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

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

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

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.