Will McLaren Continue Maintaining Fair Play and Halt Verstappen? - F1 Q&A

Do McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, It's Not Always Possible to Be Fair?

McLaren are fully conscious of the difficulty they confront with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the drivers' championship this season, but they don't believe to modify their strategy to managing the team.

They will continue to provide both drivers the best chance they can and operate the team on a foundation of equity and equanimity.

"This represents the approach we intend racing. This remains the philosophy in which we tackle competition, and we want to stay fair, and we want 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 driver recovered 17 points under the previous points system in two Grands Prix to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

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

Andrea Stella commented after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to extend the lead on Verstappen. And when it involves having to make a call as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the final Grand Prix and it's in fact the [driver in] third [place] that wins the championship. So we're not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Development on The Current Car?

All teams this year have had to confront the conundrum of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as prepared as they can be for the significant rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's typically the situation that if a constructor makes mistakes at the start of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can last for a while - consider the Red Bull team in 2022 and 2023, the last time the rules were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were experiencing reduced benefits. So when looking at the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus 2026, it became an straightforward choice to redirect attention to the following season.

The Red Bull team have closed the gap since introducing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren stays competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Lando Norris had the pace to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished behind Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong weekends. And from this perspective, if you consider a race like Baku, we failed to optimize the car's potential and we didn't deliver a flawless performance."

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

Driver Transfers: How Difficult Is It to Change Constructors?

Initially, I'm not sure the question has an entirely accurate basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky opening phases of the championship, in different ways, and that they are currently performing much better.

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

Lewis Hamilton has failed to outperform Charles Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's four-two to Charles Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton's preferred circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monegasque completed his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Charles Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the championship, and even now, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this season.

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

Lewis Hamilton would not claim even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - 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 lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Lewis Hamilton has described many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Fernando Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 when he transferred to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he switched teams? I suspect the majority in F1 would expect not.

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

Until the F1 cars are driven for the first time in pre-season testing next season, nobody will know how the constructors are looking next year.

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

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and February 18-20 will be the initial occasion some kind of indication of comparative speed emerges.

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