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

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the way we plan competing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Cease Upgrades on The Current Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation 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 get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate premise. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Charles Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, 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 Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

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

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season 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.

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

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

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams 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 initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate situation will become clear.