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

Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Play Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they see no reason to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said following the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves 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 in fact the [driver in] third [place] 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?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for 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 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a period, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an easy decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team principal Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

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

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Albon do now appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

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

Alonso, for instance, was performing well from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will understand how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion some kind of sense of relative performance emerges.

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