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

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, It's Not Always Possible to Play Fair?

The McLaren team are well aware of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they see no reason to modify their strategy to running the team.

They will persist to provide their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a basis of fairness and balance.

"This represents the manner we plan competing. This is the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we aim to remain equitable, and we intend to maintain equality to both drivers."

Team boss Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous championship fights. He won the title as race 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 championship, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he lost the title as engineer to Fernando Alonso in 2010, when Ferrari made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and enabled Vettel and the Red Bull team to snatch the championship from under their noses.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be determined by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can remember at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by mathematics."

Why Did McLaren Stop Upgrades on The Current Car?

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they succeed, that benefit can last for a while - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

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

They continued to develop it for a period, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to next year.

The Red Bull team have caught up since bringing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and keep delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race 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 large opportunity, and the result of this championship and the drivers' championship is in our control. It's not in another team's control."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, I'm not sure the question has an completely correct premise. It's true that both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had slightly difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now performing much better.

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

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

He is now much closer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite tracks, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver made his pit stop, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even currently, it's hard to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari - and he is expecting the regulation changes next season will benefit his driving style; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a great deal for a driver to get their head around when they change constructors, as Lewis Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver struggle in this manner.

Alonso, for instance, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen struggle if he changed constructors? I believe the majority in Formula 1 would anticipate he wouldn't.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the initial time in winter testing next year, nobody will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on January 26-30, is private because the constructors preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the scrutiny of the media.

So the two tests in Bahrain on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion a certain sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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