Will the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Stop Verstappen? - Formula 1 Questions and Answers

Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

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

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

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Andrea Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari driver recovered 17 points under the old scoring 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 messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the title from their grasp.

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to extend the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

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

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

Every team this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul coming for the 2026 season.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations changed.

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

They continued to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their updated underfloor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and keep executing strong 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 execute a flawless performance."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, I'm not sure the inquiry has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear very even. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying 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 last weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari racer this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have discussed how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to take them at their word.

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

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

Fernando Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 season when he moved to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe most in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

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

The first test, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the media.

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

But, as ever, it's only at the season opener that the true and accurate situation will emerge.