Can the McLaren team Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Verstappen? - F1 Q&A

Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

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

They will continue to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a foundation of fairness and balance.

"This is the approach we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

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

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this season have had to face the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In Formula 1, it's typically the case 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 - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

McLaren started this year with the fastest car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team principal Andrea Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the car performance and continue executing strong race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a large opportunity, 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?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an entirely correct premise. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

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.

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is currently significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have talked about how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

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

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved 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 F1 cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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