Will the McLaren team Continue Playing Fair and Halt Verstappen? - F1 Q&A

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

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they encounter with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they see no reason to change their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a basis of equity and balance.

"This is the manner we intend competing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain fair, and we intend to apply equality to our drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of many title battles. He won the championship as race engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when the Ferrari team messed up their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the title from their grasp.

Stella stated after the race in Austin: "We view the next five races as opportunities to increase the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can remember at least the 2007 season, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by mathematics."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor gets it wrong at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that advantage can continue for some time - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations were modified.

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

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were getting on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an easy choice to switch focus to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team principal Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the victory 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 consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Team Changes: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely accurate premise. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the season, in varying manners, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon do now appear very even. However, it's not so clear that, in Hamilton's case, he is yet the "match" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc frequently at all this year, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now much closer than he was. He is consistently qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

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

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was completely adjusted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the new rules next year 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 switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Team Performance?

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

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

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

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the true and accurate picture will emerge.