Can McLaren Keep Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Verstappen? - F1 Questions and Answers

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

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

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

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to face the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

McLaren 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 while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an easy decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since bringing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or race.

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

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, 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 hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Competitive Order?

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

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