Will the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Stop Max Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

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

McLaren are well aware of the obstacle they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to change their method to running the team.

They will continue to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equality to our drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Andrea Stella said following the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

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

Why Did McLaren Cease Development on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new underfloor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep executing strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect performance."

"So definitely we have a large chance, and the result of this championship 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, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct premise. It's correct that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

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

He is now much closer 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 Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped thirteen seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next year will suit him; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

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

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

When Will We Know The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next season, no-one will know how the constructors are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the press.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

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