Will the McLaren team Continue Playing Fair and Halt Verstappen? - F1 Questions and Answers

Must McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the challenge they face with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the championship battle this season, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

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

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle racing, and we aim to stay equitable, and we want to maintain equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of numerous championship fights. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer recovered 17 points under the old scoring system in two races to secure the championship, while the McLaren team collapsed.

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

Stella said following the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as chances to increase the lead on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by the numbers."

"We rely on the past 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 closed by mathematics."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start 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 Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the bang for buck they were achieving on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an easy choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up behind Leclerc.

"We just have to keep optimising the performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you consider a race like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

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

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

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

He is currently much closer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This last weekend in Texas, 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 thirteen seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even now, it's hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has hasn't been the superior Ferrari racer this season.

Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed 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 many times this year. But not every driver struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Before the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next season, nobody will understand how the constructors are performing in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Catalunya on January 26-30, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to understand 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 February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance emerges.

But, as always, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise situation will emerge.