Can the McLaren team Keep Maintaining Fair Play and Stop Max Verstappen? - Formula 1 Q&A

Do McLaren Face the Truth of F1 - That to 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 year, but they don't believe to modify their method to running the team.

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

"This represents the manner we intend racing. This is the method in which we approach racing, and we want to remain equitable, and we intend to apply equal treatment to both drivers."

Team principal Stella is a seasoned expert of numerous title battles. He claimed the title as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two races to win the championship, while McLaren imploded.

And he missed out on the championship as engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the final race of the season and allowed Vettel and the Red Bull team to sneak the championship from under their noses.

Stella stated after the Grand Prix in Austin: "We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a decision as to a team driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the past experience. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the last race and it's in fact the third-placed driver that claims the championship. So we're not going to make decisions unless this is determined by the calculations."

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

Every team this season have had to confront the dilemma of how long to focus on their 2025 season car while also making sure they are as ready as they can be for the major regulation change scheduled for 2026.

In Formula 1, it's usually the situation that if a team gets it wrong at the beginning of a new regulation period, it can take a considerable period to recover. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - consider Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the last time the regulations were modified.

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

They did continue to develop it for a while, but were finding reduced benefits. So when evaluating the value for money they were achieving on their 2025 car compared to 2026, it became an straightforward choice to switch focus to the following season.

Red Bull have closed the gap since bringing their updated floor and front wing at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren remains competitive - team boss Stella said he thought Norris had the speed to challenge for the win in Austin had he not ended up following Charles Leclerc.

"We just have to continue maximising the car performance and continue delivering strong 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 perfect race."

"Therefore we have a significant chance, and the result of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Team Changes: How Difficult Is It to Switch Teams?

First of all, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat sticky first halves of the championship, in varying manners, and that they are now performing significantly improved.

Sainz and Albon currently appear quite balanced. However, it's not so clear that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is yet the "equal" of Charles Leclerc - or not consistently, at least.

Hamilton has not beaten Charles Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying or Grand Prix.

He is currently significantly nearer than he previously. He is consistently qualifying within a small fraction of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the mid-season break.

This previous weekend in Austin, on one of Lewis Hamilton's favourite circuits, he was a second slower than his teammate when the Monaco driver made his tire change, and dropped 13 seconds over the remaining portion of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the optimal strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's hard to argue that on average Leclerc has hasn't been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Each of Lewis Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Lewis Hamilton would not say 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 ground-effect vehicles.

There is a lot for a racing driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained repeatedly this season. But not every driver faces difficulties 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 switched teams? I suspect most in Formula 1 would expect not.

When Will We Know Next Year's Team Performance?

Before the cars run for the initial time in pre-season testing next year, nobody will understand how the teams are looking in the upcoming season.

The first test, in Barcelona on 26-30 January, is behind closed doors because the teams wanted to get their heads around their initial track time of the new engines without the prying eyes of the media.

So the pair of sessions in Sakhir on 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of sense of relative performance becomes apparent.

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