Can McLaren Keep Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Verstappen? - Formula 1 Questions and Answers

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

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they encounter with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we approach competition, and we want to stay fair, and we intend to apply equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up 17 points under the previous points system in two races to win the title, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella stated following the race in Texas: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances 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 the numbers."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually 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 Stop Development on This Year's Car?

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of for how long to focus on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's typically the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they succeed, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules changed.

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

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless performance."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not placed in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's correct that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently look quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second behind his teammate when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

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

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is expecting the new rules next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to understand and adapt to when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Until the cars are driven for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, no-one will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

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

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