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

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the obstacle they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to modify their approach 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 fairness and balance.

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

Team boss Stella is a veteran of numerous title battles. He won the championship as engineer to Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari driver made up seventeen points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while McLaren 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 championship and enabled Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Stella commented following the race in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In F1, it's typically the case 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 - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations changed.

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

They did continue to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he believed Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering good race weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct basis. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult opening phases of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his tire change, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's difficult to claim that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is hoping the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in Formula 1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to understand their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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