Will McLaren Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Max Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this season, but they see no reason to modify their method to managing the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we plan competing. This remains the method in which we approach competition, and we aim to stay equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver recovered seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the championship, while McLaren collapsed.

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

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase 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 past experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is closed by the calculations."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

Every team this season have had to face the dilemma 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 scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that advantage can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and continue delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a perfect race."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an completely accurate basis. It's correct that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

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

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not all struggle in this manner.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Before the cars are driven for the first time in winter testing next year, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the constructors wanted to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the season opener that the true and accurate picture will become clear.