Will McLaren Keep Maintaining Fair Play and Halt Max Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to alter their approach to running the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they succeed, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to improve it for a period, but were experiencing diminishing returns. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to the 2026 car, it became an easy choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and continue executing strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the inquiry has an entirely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

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

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will understand how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the teams wanted to understand their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of comparative speed emerges.

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise situation will become clear.