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

Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

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

They will persist to provide both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the manner we intend racing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we want to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

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

And he lost the championship as engineer to Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the final race of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the remaining five Grands Prix as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by the numbers."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 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 mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Stop Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this season have had to face the dilemma of for how long to concentrate on their 2025 car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the significant regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually 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 succeed, that advantage can last for a while - look at the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

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

The Red Bull team have caught up since introducing their new underfloor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the victory in Texas had he not finished following Charles Leclerc.

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

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Leclerc frequently 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 Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a full second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and dropped thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the race.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to change constructors, and we have to accept their statements.

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

There is a lot for a racing driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this season. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the beginning of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I believe most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Competitive Order?

Until the cars run for the first time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will know how the teams are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the first time some kind of sense of comparative speed becomes apparent.

But, as always, it's only at the season opener that the complete and precise situation will emerge.