Will the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Stop Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

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

McLaren are fully conscious of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to give both drivers the best chance they can and run the team on a basis of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to stay fair, and we intend to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team boss Andrea Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He claimed the championship as engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 season when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the title, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team messed up their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the title from under their noses.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the lead 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 remember at least the 2007 season, the 2010 season, in which you go to the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by the calculations."

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

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

In F1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a long time to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

The McLaren team started this season with the fastest car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 season design.

They continued to improve it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward decision to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their new floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the victory in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong race weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku, we didn't maximise the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that each of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are currently performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Alex Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's less certain that, in Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not regularly, at least.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc frequently at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or race.

He is now much closer than he previously. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his tire change, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Charles Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was completely adjusted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the regulation changes next year will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these ground-effect vehicles.

There is a great deal for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to the Aston Martin team. And would Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I believe most in F1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

How Soon Can We Determine Next Year's Competitive Order?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the constructors wanted to get their heads around their first running of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the initial occasion a certain indication of relative performance emerges.

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