Will McLaren Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Halt Verstappen? - Formula 1 Questions and Answers

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That if You Want Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the difficulty they face with Verstappen and Red Bull in the championship battle this year, but they don't believe to alter their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to give both drivers the optimal opportunity they can and run the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This is the approach we intend competing. This remains the way in which we approach racing, and we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers."

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

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Alonso in 2010, when the Ferrari team made errors in their strategy at the last Grand Prix of the championship and enabled Vettel and Red Bull to snatch the championship from their grasp.

Andrea Stella said after the race in Austin: "We view the remaining five Grands Prix as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will exclusively be led by mathematics."

"We rely on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, the 2010 season, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the third-placed driver that wins the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

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

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the beginning of a new rules cycle, it can take a considerable period to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the regulations 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 diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 season car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to the following season.

Red Bull have caught up since introducing their updated floor and nose section at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Andrea Stella said he believed Lando Norris had the pace to challenge for the win in Texas had he not ended up behind Charles Leclerc.

"We must continue optimising the performance and continue executing good race weekends. And from this perspective, if you think of a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't execute a flawless race."

"So definitely we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this season and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not placed in another team's control."

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

First of all, I'm not sure the inquiry has an completely correct premise. It's correct that each of Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult opening phases of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring significantly improved.

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

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

He is now significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently setting times within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Charles Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Lewis Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a full second behind Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal race strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to claim that on average Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

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

Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will suit him; he has never particularly liked 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 year. But not every driver faces difficulties in this manner.

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

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

Until the F1 cars run for the initial time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the teams are looking next year.

The initial session, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their first running of the power unit changes without the scrutiny of the press.

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

But, as ever, it's not until the season opener that the complete and precise picture will emerge.